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Russian men who smoke and drink heavily are more at risk for premature death

Recent data shows that high alcohol consumption, particularly vodka, is linked to premature death among Russian men who smoke cigarettes.

Researchers interviewed 200,000 Russian adults from 1999 to 2008 and conducted follow-ups in 2010. Study participants were aged 35 to 74 years during follow-up.

“Russian death rates have fluctuated wildly over the past 30 years as alcohol restrictions and social stability varied under Presidents Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and Putin. The main thing driving these wild fluctuations in death was vodka,” study researcher SirRichard Peto, CTSU, a professor at the University of Oxford, said in a press release.

The study findings show the majority of study participants considered heavy drinkers were male smokers (n=57,361). Among those aged 35 to 54 years, the estimated 20-year risks for death was 16% for those who consumed less than one bottle of vodka per week at baseline, 20% for participants who consumed one to two bottles per week, and 35% for those who drank three or more bottles per week. Study participants aged 55 to 74 years were at a higher risk for death compared with their younger cohorts. The corresponding risks for death for this age group were 50%, 54%, and 64%, respectively. Women and non-smokers were less likely to report heavy drinking.

“The overall volume of alcohol consumed in Russia, albeit high, cannot explain the high alcohol-attributable mortality; it is the combination of high overall volume with the specific pattern of episodic binges that is necessary to explain the high level and fluctuating trends of total and alcohol-attributed mortality,” JürgenRehm, PhD, from the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, said in a comment accompanying the study.

“The significant decline in Russian mortality rates following the introduction of moderate alcohol controls in 2006 demonstrates the reversibility of the health crisis from hazardous drinking. People who drink spirits in hazardous ways greatly reduce their risk of premature death as soon as they stop,” study leader David Zaridze, MD, of the Russian Cancer Research Center in Moscow, said in the release.

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.