Socioeconomic Disparities in Alcohol-Related Mortality in Sweden, 1991-2006: A Register-Based Follow-Up Study.

AIM

To examine whether apparent stability of overall alcohol-related mortality in Sweden during a period when traditionally strict alcohol policies went through a series of liberalizations and overall alcohol mortality remained stable, concealed a heterogeneity across socioeconomic groups (defined by educational level); and whether an increase occurred in the contribution of alcohol-related mortality to overall mortality differentials.

METHODS

Drawing on cause of death data linked to census records for the period 1991-2006, we computed annual age-standardized and sex-specific rates of alcohol-related mortality for groups with low, intermediate and high education.

RESULTS

Alcohol-related mortality was considerably higher in lower educational groups for both men and women. For men, the trends in alcohol-related mortality were roughly stable for all education groups, and there were no signs of increasing inequalities by education. For women, alcohol-related mortality increased significantly for the low-education group whereas the two higher education groups showed no significant time trends, thus resulting in a widened educational gap in alcohol mortality for women. Alcohol's contribution to the overall mortality differentials declined for men and was basically unchanged for women.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings provide only partial support to the hypothesis that the liberalizations of Swedish alcohol policy have been followed by a general increase in socioeconomic disparities in alcohol-related mortality.