Post by Jaga on Jul 1, 2009 20:57:17 GMT -7
MOSCOW, June 26 (Reuters) - Cheap and illicit alcohol kills more than half Russian men and women in their most productive years and the government must act urgently to reverse the trend, a study to be published in The Lancet at the weekend said.
"Excessive alcohol consumption in Russia, particularly by men, has in several recent years caused more than half of all the deaths at ages of 15-54 years," the Lancet article said. The research conducted in three industrial cities -- Tomsk, Barnaul and Biysk -- said "excess mortality from liver cancer, throat cancer, liver disease, and pancreatic disease is largely or wholly because alcohol caused the disease that caused death".
High mortality from tuberculosis and pneumonia may be partly a result of increased exposure to infection, weak immunity, or decreased likelihood of cure, the research found.
Russia's mortality rate in people aged 15-54 years was more than five times higher for men and three times higher for women than in Western Europe, the study showed.
Alcohol is responsible for about three quarters of the deaths of all Russian men aged 15-54 and about half of all deaths of Russian women of the same age, the data showed.
Russia must stop or tax the illicit alcohol output, the article said, adding this in turn would mean "confrontation with organised criminals and corrupt officials ... All that is needed is the political will to make public health a priority".
www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLP41181
"Excessive alcohol consumption in Russia, particularly by men, has in several recent years caused more than half of all the deaths at ages of 15-54 years," the Lancet article said. The research conducted in three industrial cities -- Tomsk, Barnaul and Biysk -- said "excess mortality from liver cancer, throat cancer, liver disease, and pancreatic disease is largely or wholly because alcohol caused the disease that caused death".
High mortality from tuberculosis and pneumonia may be partly a result of increased exposure to infection, weak immunity, or decreased likelihood of cure, the research found.
Russia's mortality rate in people aged 15-54 years was more than five times higher for men and three times higher for women than in Western Europe, the study showed.
Alcohol is responsible for about three quarters of the deaths of all Russian men aged 15-54 and about half of all deaths of Russian women of the same age, the data showed.
Russia must stop or tax the illicit alcohol output, the article said, adding this in turn would mean "confrontation with organised criminals and corrupt officials ... All that is needed is the political will to make public health a priority".
www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLP41181