Citation

Probst C, Roerecke M, Behrendt S, Rehm J. Drug Alcohol Rev. 2014; 34(3): 267-277.

Affiliation

Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/dar.12184

PMID

25109218

Abstract

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: The present analysis contributes to understanding the societal distribution of alcohol-attributable harm by investigating socioeconomic inequality and related gender differences in alcohol-attributable mortality. DESIGN AND METHODS: A systematic literature search was performed on Web of Science, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and ETOH from their inception until February 2013. Articles were included when they reported data on alcohol-attributable mortality by socioeconomic status (SES), operationalised as education, occupation, employment status or income. Gender-specific relative risks (RR) comparing low with high SES were pooled using random effects meta-analyses. Gender differences were additionally investigated in random effects meta-regressions.

RESULTS: Nineteen articles from 14 countries were included. For women, significant RRs across all measures of SES, except employment status, were found, ranging between 1.75 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.21-2.54; occupation] and 4.78 (95% CI 2.57-8.87; income). For men, all measures of SES showed significant RRs ranging between 2.88 (95% CI 2.45-3.40; income) and 12.25 (95% CI 11.45-13.10; employment status). While RRs for men were in general slightly higher, only for occupation this gender difference was above chance (P = 0.01).

RESULTS refer to deaths 100% attributable to alcohol.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: The results are predominantly based on data from high-income countries, limiting generalisability. Alcohol-attributable mortality is strongly distributed to the disadvantage of persons with a low SES. Marked gender differences in this inequality were found for occupation. Possibly male-dominated occupations of low SES were more strongly related to risky drinking cultures compared with female-dominated occupations of the same SES.

Language: en