Recent trends in health status of the male population in postcommunist Europe.

At the time of the collapse of the Soviet bloc in 1989-1990, male life expectancy in Central and Eastern Europe was significantly lower than that in Western Europe. Recent trends in health status in this region are very different: steady improvement in the Czech Republic, first signs of improvement in the Slovak Republic and Poland, slight aggravation in Hungary and Bulgaria and health collapse in the Russian Federation. Male life expectancy at birth in the Czech Republic reached in 1995 70.0 years, while in the Russian Federation it decreased in 1994 to 57.7 years. The increase in life expectancy in the Czech Republic is attributable to the decline of infant mortality and of cardiovascular mortality in middle-aged males. The decrease in life expectancy in the Russian Federation is attributable to the increase of cardiovascular mortality and to an extremely high increase of mortality caused by accidents, suicides and homicides. Pandemic of alcoholism plays a significant role in the unfavourable health trends in the Russian Federation.