Half of all premature deaths of Russian adults down to alcohol

More than half of all deaths of people of working age in Russia are caused by alcohol, according to research by Oxford University and the Russian Cancer Research Centre in Moscow. The results of the case-control study are published in The Lancet. The researchers asked the families of 30,000 dead men and 20,000 dead women in the Russian cities of Tomsk, Barnaul and Biysk what the deceased person used to drink, and determined the cause of death from official death records. They found that 59% of deaths in men and 33% of deaths in women between the ages of 15-54 were caused by alcohol. Most of these alcohol-attributed deaths were from alcohol poisoning, accidents, violence, or one of eight disease groups strongly related to alcohol, such as TB, pneumonia, pancreatitis or liver disease. 'Russian health continues to be devastated by the effects of alcohol and tobacco,' says Professor David Zaridze of the Russian Cancer Research Centre, who led the study in Russia. 'Many Russians die in their twenties, thirties or forties from disease, accidents, violence or suicide caused by drinking.'   Professor Sir Richard Peto of the Clinical Trial Service Unit (CTSU) at the University of Oxford, who led the statistical analyses said: 'If current Russian death rates continue, then about 5% of all young women and 25% of all young men will die before age 55 years from the direct or indirect effects of drinking.