To estimate the aggregate level effect of alcohol on suicide rates in Russia.
Suicide is one of the main causes of premature mortality in Russia, bringing considerable losses of human lives. There is strong evidence of a crucial role of alcohol in the explanation of the high suicide rate and its profound fluctuations over the past decades in this country.
Trends in alcohol consumption per capita and suicide rates from 1980 to 2005 were analyzed employing autoregressive integrated moving
average (ARIMA) time series analysis.
The overall level of alcohol consumption was significantly associated with both male and female suicide rates. The estimates of the age specific models for men were positive and ranged from 0.029 (75+ age group) to 0.084 (30-44 age group). The estimates for women were positive for the age groups 15-29 (0.036), 30-44 (0.033), 45-59 (0.022) and 60-74 (0.008).
The outcome of this study provides indirect support for the hypothesis that alcohol played a crucial role in the fluctuation in suicide mortality rate in Russia during recent decades.
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