Cardiology

Biography

Biography: Yury Razvodovsky

Abstract

Background: The mortality rate from cardiovascular disease in Russia is one of the highest in the world. It was repeatedly emphasized that alcohol provides the most plausible explanation for both the high rate and the dramatic fluctuation in Russian cardiovascular mortality rate during the last decades, while other traditional risk factors identified in epidemiologic studies had little predictive value. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to estimate the premature cardiovascular mortality attributable to alcohol abuse in Russia on the basis of aggregate-level data of mortality and alcohol consumption. Methods: Age-standardized sex-specific male and female cardiovascular mortality data for the period 1980-2005 and data on overall alcohol consumption were analyzed by means ARIMA time series analysis. Results: The results of the analysis suggest that 36.1% of all male cardiovascular deaths and 25,8% female cardiovascular deaths in Russia could be attributed to alcohol. The estimated alcohol-attributable fraction for men ranged from 22,7% (75+ age group) to 60,8% (30-44 age group) and for women from 17,3% (75+ age group) and 62,4% (30-44 age group). Conclusions: The outcomes of this study provide support for the hypothesis that alcohol is a major contributor to the high cardiovascular mortality rate in Russian Federation. Therefore prevention of alcohol-attributable harm should be a major public health priority in Russia. Given the distribution of alcohol-related cardiovascular deaths, interventions should be focused on the young and middle-aged men and women.