Issue of alcoholism of the population in the work of a general practitioner

Abstract

Alcoholism is the major medical and social problem all over the world, including in Russia. Alcohol abuse leads to severe poisoning of the human body and provokes the development of irreversible consequences in it. Alcohol negatively affects people's health, causing illness and premature mortality of working-age citizens, leading to large losses in production, as well as huge costs for medical care. According to statistics, in the Russian Federation there are more than 5 million alcohol-dependent people, which is 3.4 % of the population, while barely half are registered. In general, it is very difficult to quantify the scale of the problem of alcohol consumption, as the majority of the rural population consumes homemade products. If we also take into account the illegal alcohol trade, the actual volume of alcohol will significantly increase. When analyzing data on the amount of alcohol consumed by the population of our country, it can be concluded that in the period from 2010 to 2012, there was a slight increase in the consumption of alcoholic beverages, then from 2012 to 2018 there was a gradual decrease in the alcohol consumption, and in 2019 there was a sharp jump in the amount of alcohol consumption by the population by 46.7 %, and this indicator has maintained its value for almost all recent 4 years, i.e. from 2019 to 2022. In general, there were no significant changes in the indicators from 2010 to 2022. Analysis of the causes and clinical manifestations of alcoholism allow creating measures to prevent this disease and influence the medical and social aspects of the population’s health and quality of life. The results of the study can be used by general practitioners in their professional activities.