[Alcohol and statistics of causes of death in middle-aged men in Oslo. A forensic study]

The study comprised male citizens of Oslo, aged 30-64 years, who died outside hospital and were autopsied at the Institute of Forensic Medicine, Rikshopsitalet, from 1984 to 1988. Of the 636 cases, 195 (30.7%) were classified as alcoholics and 441 as non-alcoholics. The cause of death remained unknown after autopsy and toxicological analyses in 17.4% of the alcoholics and in 5.4% of the non-alcoholics. Suicide by other methods than medicamental poisoning was 6-7 times more frequent among non-alcoholics than among alcoholics, while death from poisoning was definitely more common among alcoholics. The frequency of lethal accidents other than intoxications was similar in both cases. Coronary heart disease was the cause of 72.7% of the natural deaths among the non-alcoholics. Among the alcoholics, however, infections (24.3%) and alcohol-related disorders (15.9%) caused nearly as many deaths as coronary heart disease (25.3%). There was a high rate of blood-alcohol concentration (greater than or equal to 0.5%) in men who died from accidents, suicides and homicides, irrespective of whether they were alcoholics or not. The findings give evidence that alcohol has a strong impact on the mortality statistics for Norwegian middle-aged men.