ALCOHOL RELATED PROBLEMS IN RUSSIA AND BELARUS: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF TRENDS

Goal: in present article comparative analysis of trends in alcohol-related problems rates (violent mortality, fatal alcohol poisonings, alcoholic psychoses), alcohol sales per capita, socioeconomic parameters in Russia and Belarus in soviet (1970-1991) and post-soviet (1992-2015) periods were analyzed. Materials and methods. As indicators of alcohol problems were used the mortality rate from external causes, the mortality rate from acute alcohol poisoning and the incidence of alcoholic psychoses. As an integral indicator characterizing the health status of the population was used the indicator of life expectancy at birth. Results: the results of correlation analysis suggest that alcohol sales is a statistically significant associated with alcohol-related problems rates in both countries during the Soviet period. However, there was no relationship between this variables during the post-Soviet period. The outcomes of this study indicate that psychosocial distress and macroeconomy were important determinants of fluctuations in alcohol-related problems rates in both countries. In the context of alcohol policy this mean that decrease in economic and physical availability of alcohol should be considered as a main priority.