BACKGROUND
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are one of the major problems of public health. Alcohol is one of the most important risk factors for morbidity and mortality from CVDs. As of today, there has been insufficient researches dedicated to finding a correlation between the volume of alcohol retail sales in the various regions of the Russian Federation and the morbidity and mortality rates from CVDs.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate the correlation of the volume of alcohol retail sales with the morbidity and mortality rates of the adult population in the regions of the Russian Federation.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Official statistics of the Federal Service for Alcohol Market Regulation and data on morbidity and mortality in the regions of the Russian Federation, available on the Internet, were used. The data were presented in Excel format for each region. Statistical processing of data using single-factor regression analysis, Mann-Whitney U test, calculation of odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) was carried out. The differences were considered statistically significant at p<0.05.
RESULTS
A statistically significant positive correlation between the volume of alcohol retail sales in the regions of the Russian Federation and the statistical indicators of the primary morbidity of diseases of the circulatory system (DCS) (the differences between the 1st and 2nd quartiles — OR=1.24 (95% CI 0.751—2.063, p<0.05) and the overall morbidity of DCS (p<0.05) in these regions has been founds. There was statistically significant positive correlation between the volume of alcohol retail sales and mortality from DCS (p=0.004, r=0.306; when comparing the 1st and 3rd quartiles of OR=1.318 (95% CI 1.180—1.472).
CONCLUSION
A positive correlation between the volumes alcohol retail sales, primary and overall morbidity of diseases of the circulatory system and mortality from diseases of the circulatory system in the regions of the Russian Federation has been found. The adoption of measures limiting alcohol consumption seems appropriate.