Alcohol intemperance and social disability as risk factors for different causes of death

At a follow-up 7-10 years after a health screening of 50-year-old men in Uppsala, 101 of the 2322 participants and 51 of the 446 non-participants had died. The incidence was thus almost three times as high among non-participants as among participants. Registration at the Temperance Board and/or the Bureau of Social Services was 2-3 times more common among the deceased subjects than among the living irrespective of participation in the health screening. A multiple logistic analysis revealed that non-participation and both types of registration were associated with an increased risk of death. For death from neoplasm only registration at the Bureau of Social Services, and not that at the Temperance Board, was a risk factor. For ischaemic heart disease (IHD), on the other hand, registration at the Temperance Board was the strongest risk factor, the other type of registration being secondary, and non-participation in the screening was a non-significant risk factor. The importance of alcohol intemperance as a risk factor for IHD was reflected in the fact that every second subject dying a sudden death (classified as IHD death) was registered at the Temperance Board. These results indicate that alcohol intemperance entails an increased risk of developing fatal complications to IHD, and social disability may carry with it a risk of both neoplasm and, to a lesser extent, death from IHD.