TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2012//
TI  - Mortality of harmful drinkers increased after reduction of alcohol prices in northern Finland: a 10-year follow-up of head trauma subjects
JO  - Neuroepidemiology
A1  - Vaaramo, Kalle
A1  - Puljula, Jussi
A1  - Tetri, Sami
A1  - Juvela, Seppo
A1  - Hillbom, Matti
SP  - 156
EP  - 162
VL  - 39
IS  - 3
N2  - Objective: Alcohol-related mortality may be influenced by the level of alcohol consumption. We investigated the effect of alcohol price reduction on mortality in a cohort of 827 subjects with head injury. Methods: We used the Finnish National Hospital Discharge Register to identify all diagnoses recorded during hospital and health center visits for survivors of the index injury during a follow-up of 10 years. Mortality data were gathered from death records obtained from the Official Cause-of-Death Statistics. Cox proportional hazards model was used to identify independent predictors for death. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were used to characterize the effect of alcohol price reduction on mortality of harmful and non-harmful drinkers. Results: Alcohol-related deaths increased after the reduction of alcohol prices on March 1, 2004. Subjects recorded as harmful drinkers during the follow-up period were significantly (p < 0.001) more likely than others to die after the price reduction. Older age (HR 1.06, 95% CI 1.05-1.07), moderate-to-severe brain injury (HR 2.39, 95% CI 1.59-3.60) and harmful drinking recorded after the index trauma (HR 2.59, 95% CI 1.62-4.62) were significant (p < 0.001) predictors for death. Conclusion: We conclude that a political decision to lower the price of alcohol may cause a significant increase in the death rate of harmful drinkers.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0251-5350
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000341241
ID  - ref1
ER  -