@article{ref1,
title="Alcohol and unnatural deaths in Sweden: a medico-legal autopsy study",
journal="Journal of studies on alcohol",
year="2000",
author="Sjögren, H. and Eriksson, Antonina and Ahlm, Kristin",
volume="61",
number="4",
pages="507-514",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: To investigate alcohol involvement in all types of unnatural deaths in Sweden. METHOD: All cases of unnatural death that underwent medico-legal autopsies (1992-1996) in Sweden were analyzed (N = 15,630; i.e., 68% of all unnatural deaths). Alcohol was regarded as contributing to the death if: (1) there was any indication that the deceased was a &quot;known alcoholic&quot;; (2) the underlying or contributing causes of death were alcohol-related; (3) the deceased had alcohol-related inpatient diagnosis during a period of 3 years prior to death; or (4) the case tested positive for blood alcohol. RESULTS: Thirty-nine percent of the blood-tested cases (n = 13,099) were positive for alcohol. Almost 40% of the unnatural deaths were associated with alcohol. Alcohol involvement was most common in the intoxication group (84%), followed by the &quot;undetermined&quot; (65%), homicide (55%), fall (48%), fire (44%), asphyxia (41%), suicide (35%) and traffic (22%) groups. More than half (52%) of the deaths in the age group 30-60 years, 35% of those aged 0-29 years and 25% of those aged 60 and over were associated with alcohol. CONCLUSIONS: In Sweden, two of five unnatural deaths are associated with alcohol; this is a conservative estimate. Alcohol-associated mortality varies considerably between different groups of external causes of death, between men and women, and with age.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0096-882X",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}