Alcohol Consumption and Ischemic Heart Disease Mortality Trends in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine

Background: The Slavic countries of the former Soviet Union (fSU) Russia, Belarus and Ukraine retain one of the highest ischemic heart disease (IHD) mortality rates in the world, despite a gradual decline over the past decade Aims: The present study aims to analyze whether population drinking is able to explain the dramatic fluctuations in IHD mortality rates in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine from the late Soviet to post-Soviet period. Method: Trends in sex-specific IHD mortality rates and alcohol sales per capita from 1980 to 2010 in Russia Belarus and Ukraine were analyzed employing a Spearman’s rank-order correlation analysis. Results: The estimates based on the Soviet data suggest a strong association between alcohol sales and IHD mortality rates in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. At the same time, the relationship between alcohol sales and IHD mortality was somewhat less evident in the post-Soviet period. Conclusion: The findings from present study suggest that the IHD mortality fluctuations in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine in the Soviet period were attributable to alcohol. Alternatively, alcohol can not fully explain the fluctuations in the IHD mortality rates observed in these countries in the Soviet period.