Grodno State Medical University, Belarus.
Adicciones. 2013;25(2):156-62.
Alcohol abuse has numerous adverse health and social consequences. The consumer response to changes in alcohol affordability is an important issue on alcohol policy debates. Studies from many countries have shown an inverse relationship between alcohol prices and alcohol consumption in the population. There are, however, suggestions that increasing the price of alcohol by rising taxes may have limited effect on alcohol-related problems, associated with long-term heavy drinking. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the relationship between alcohol affordability and alcohol-related mortality rates in post-Soviet Belarus. For this purpose trends in alcohol-related mortality rates (mortality from liver cirrhosis, pancreatitis, alcoholism and alcohol psychoses) and affordability of vodka between 1990 and 2010 were compared. The time series analysis revealed that 1% increase in vodka affordability is associated with an increase in liver cirrhosis mortality of 0,77%, an increase in pancreatitis mortality of 0.53%, an increase in mortality from alcoholism and alcohol psychoses of 0,70%. The major conclusion emerging from this study is that affordability of alcohol is one of the most important predictor of alcohol-related problems in a population. These findings provide additional evidence that decreasing in affordability of alcohol is an effective strategy for reducing alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm.
酗酒对健康和社会造成诸多不良后果。消费者对酒精价格变化的反应是酒精政策辩论中的一个重要问题。许多国家的研究表明，人群中酒精价格与酒精消费呈反比关系。然而，有观点认为，通过提高税收来提高酒精价格，对长期酗酒导致的与酒精相关的问题可能影响有限。本研究旨在评估后苏联白俄罗斯的酒精可负担性与酒精相关死亡率之间的关系。为此，比较了 1990 年至 2010 年期间与酒精相关的死亡率（肝硬化、胰腺炎、酒精中毒和酒精性精神病的死亡率）和伏特加酒的可负担性趋势。时间序列分析表明，伏特加酒可负担性增加 1%，与肝硬化死亡率增加 0.77%、胰腺炎死亡率增加 0.53%、酒精中毒和酒精性精神病死亡率增加 0.70%相关。这项研究得出的主要结论是，酒精的可负担性是人群中与酒精相关问题的最重要预测因素之一。这些发现提供了额外的证据，表明降低酒精的可负担性是减少酒精消费和酒精相关危害的有效策略。
