Correlation of cardiovascular morbidity and alcohol consumption at the regional level
Objective. To assess the correlation between alcohol consumption and cardiovascular morbidity among adults in the Republic of Mari El (RME). Material and methods. Analysis of statistical data of the Federal State Statistics Service and Ministry of Health of Russia for the period 2005-2018 was performed. Alcohol consumption was determined according to methodological recommendations of the Ministry of Health (the order dated July 30, 2019 No. 575). Statistical significance was assessed using the Mann-Whitney test. We also used medians with 95% CI to analyze central trend and range of values. Correlation between variables was analyzed using the Spearman’s correlation coefficient with a time lag ≥1 year. Results. In 2005-2018, cardiovascular morbidity of adults increased in the RME without significant differences from national values (p=0.01). Hypertension, coronary artery disease and cerebrovascular diseases prevailed in the structure of cardiovascular morbidity of adults. The share of these patients increased from 57.5% to 85.9% in this region. Throughout the study period, per capita alcohol consumption in alcohol equivalent significantly decreased (from 21.3 to 10.9 liters) and was higher than per capita sales of alcoholic beverages in absolute alcohol (from 6.9 to 6.6 liters). We found significant strong correlations between per capita alcohol consumption (total, strong and illegal) and incidence of acute myocardial infarction in adults with an 8-year lag. Cardiovascular morbidity of adults including coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, arterial hypertension and cerebrovascular disease significantly correlated with alcohol sales (time lag 4-9 years). Sales of vodka were followed by a longer delayed effect for only myocardial infarction and arterial hypertension. Conclusion. Regional indicators of alcoholic consumption directly correlate with cardiovascular morbidity in adults with delayed consequences. A consistent anti-alcohol policy is one of approaches to prevent cardiovascular morbidity.