Social Context of Alcohol-Related Mortality in Czechia

Marketa Pechholdova , University of Economics, Prague (VSE)

Alcohol consumption in the Czech Republic is among the highest in Europe. Long-term tolerance to alcohol both in cultural and political environment resulted in unfavourable trend of increasing alcohol-related mortality in both sexes. Routine vital statistics capture the alcohol burden only partially, through the so-called direct effects of alcohol. Epidemiological studies however pointed at indirect effects of alcohol in many other medical conditions (accidents, violence, hypertension, ischemic heart disease, neoplasms). Alcohol-related harm is also unequally distributed, with disadvantaged population groups (low educated, non-married, rural) being at highest risk. We aim at detecting alcohol-related deaths using the extended information from the multiple causes of death. This estimate of alcohol related harm is then subject to analysis of socioeconomic differentials. We are using 1-year follow-up of individual death records linked to Census 2011 and area-based deprivation indices derived from various information sources. Mortality rate ratios for alcohol related deaths are estimated using a Poisson regression model. We are measuring the effects of both individual and area-based deprivation. The results represent the first estimates of alcohol-related mortality differentials in Czechia based on validated information about education and making advantage of multiple causes of death.

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 Presented in Session 18. Mortality Determinants