| 1. |
- Sjögren, Harmeet, et al.
(författare)
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Alcohol and unnatural deaths in Sweden: a medico-legal autopsy study.
- 2000
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Ingår i: Journal of Studies on Alcohol. - 0096-882X. ; 61:4, s. 507-14
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- OBJECTIVE: To investigate alcohol involvement in all types of unnatural deaths in Sweden. METHOD: All cases of unnatural death that underwent medico-legal autopsies (1992-1996) in Sweden were analyzed (N = 15,630; i.e., 68% of all unnatural deaths). Alcohol was regarded as contributing to the death if: (1) there was any indication that the deceased was a "known alcoholic"; (2) the underlying or contributing causes of death were alcohol-related; (3) the deceased had alcohol-related inpatient diagnosis during a period of 3 years prior to death; or (4) the case tested positive for blood alcohol. RESULTS: Thirty-nine percent of the blood-tested cases (n = 13,099) were positive for alcohol. Almost 40% of the unnatural deaths were associated with alcohol. Alcohol involvement was most common in the intoxication group (84%), followed by the "undetermined" (65%), homicide (55%), fall (48%), fire (44%), asphyxia (41%), suicide (35%) and traffic (22%) groups. More than half (52%) of the deaths in the age group 30-60 years, 35% of those aged 0-29 years and 25% of those aged 60 and over were associated with alcohol. CONCLUSIONS: In Sweden, two of five unnatural deaths are associated with alcohol; this is a conservative estimate. Alcohol-associated mortality varies considerably between different groups of external causes of death, between men and women, and with age.
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| 2. |
- Sjögren, Harmeet, et al.
(författare)
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Role of alcohol in unnatural deaths: a study of all deaths in Sweden.
- 2000
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Ingår i: Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research. - 0145-6008. ; 24:7, s. 1050-6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Most previous research has concentrated on the role of alcohol in one type of unnatural death in a selected population, but the present objective was to investigate the role of alcohol in all unnatural deaths (autopsied and not autopsied). METHODS: All cases of unnatural death from 1992 through 1996 in Sweden were analyzed (n = 23,132). Death was attributed at least in part to alcohol if the deceased was a "known alcoholic"; if the underlying or contributing cause of death was alcohol-related; if the deceased had an alcohol-related inpatient diagnosis during the 3-year period prior to death; or if the deceased tested positive for blood alcohol. RESULTS: Just over 28% of the unnatural deaths could be associated with alcohol; the association with alcohol was more than twice as common in deaths of males (35%) as in females (16%). When only autopsied cases or only blood-tested cases were taken as the denominators, 38% and 44%, respectively, of the deaths were associated with alcohol. Alcohol involvement also was twice as common in intentional deaths (36%) as in unintentional deaths (18%). The intoxication group (78%) had the highest fraction of deaths that could be associated with alcohol, followed by the undetermined group (62%), homicide (49%), fire (41%), suicide (35%), asphyxia (29%), traffic (18%) and fall (9%) groups. In the 20- to 59-year age group, alcohol involvement was found in 51% of the males and 35% of the females (47% for males and females combined). CONCLUSIONS: The present estimates are conservative; alcohol involvement in unnatural deaths probably is even higher, up to 44% of the total. The present estimation is an important step in policy-making to lower the number of alcohol-related deaths in Sweden.
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