Alcohol consumption and public health in Russia

Abstract

David Leon and colleagues1Leon DA Saburova L Tomkins S et al.Hazardous alcohol drinking and premature mortality in Russia: a population based case-control study.Lancet. 2007; 369: 2001-2009Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (308) Google Scholar present an informative, enlightening, and worrying article about the link between premature mortality in Russian men and hazardous alcohol drinking.WHO/EURO figures show that, in 2002, more than 50% of deaths in Russian men were related to cardiovascular disease.2WHOThe European health report 2005. World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland2005http://www.euro.who.int/document/ehr05/e87325_table4.pdfGoogle Scholar Among the ten leading risk factors contributing to these deaths, hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, tobacco use, inadequate diet, obesity, limited physical activity, and alcohol use were the most important. Alcohol (and presumably alcohol substitutes) accounted for 12% of total deaths and 16·5% of disability-adjusted life-years lost annually. Leon's paper places alcohol and substitutes even higher up the scale as a causative factor in premature deaths.Much publicity, both inside and outside Russia, is being given to the actual and potential problems that Russia's declining population might precipitate. The question is how can Russia halt the decline? The lifestyle risk factors are known, and many of them are potentially modifiable. A possible solution, at least in part, would be to combine training in preventive cardiology for doctors at outpatient clinics with an intensive, long-term public-awareness campaign.Such a programme is being developed by a British organisation, ICHARM (International Cardiac Healthcare and Risk Factor Management), in close collaboration with Russian colleagues. A 3-year pilot scheme will be undertaken in a densely populated urban centre in the Urals, with the intention of rolling it out to other regions and ultimately throughout the whole of Russia. A 20% reduction (2% per annum) in mortality due to cardiovascular disease could save 250 000 Russian men's lives every year.I am founder and director of ICHARM. David Leon and colleagues1Leon DA Saburova L Tomkins S et al.Hazardous alcohol drinking and premature mortality in Russia: a population based case-control study.Lancet. 2007; 369: 2001-2009Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (308) Google Scholar present an informative, enlightening, and worrying article about the link between premature mortality in Russian men and hazardous alcohol drinking. WHO/EURO figures show that, in 2002, more than 50% of deaths in Russian men were related to cardiovascular disease.2WHOThe European health report 2005. World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland2005http://www.euro.who.int/document/ehr05/e87325_table4.pdfGoogle Scholar Among the ten leading risk factors contributing to these deaths, hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, tobacco use, inadequate diet, obesity, limited physical activity, and alcohol use were the most important. Alcohol (and presumably alcohol substitutes) accounted for 12% of total deaths and 16·5% of disability-adjusted life-years lost annually. Leon's paper places alcohol and substitutes even higher up the scale as a causative factor in premature deaths. Much publicity, both inside and outside Russia, is being given to the actual and potential problems that Russia's declining population might precipitate. The question is how can Russia halt the decline? The lifestyle risk factors are known, and many of them are potentially modifiable. A possible solution, at least in part, would be to combine training in preventive cardiology for doctors at outpatient clinics with an intensive, long-term public-awareness campaign. Such a programme is being developed by a British organisation, ICHARM (International Cardiac Healthcare and Risk Factor Management), in close collaboration with Russian colleagues. A 3-year pilot scheme will be undertaken in a densely populated urban centre in the Urals, with the intention of rolling it out to other regions and ultimately throughout the whole of Russia. A 20% reduction (2% per annum) in mortality due to cardiovascular disease could save 250 000 Russian men's lives every year. I am founder and director of ICHARM.