Alcohol Sales and Socioeconomic Factors Related to Cirrhosis of the Liver Mortality in Pennsylvania

• Published in: H.S.M.H.A. health reports 1971-03, Vol.86 (3), p.253-264
• Main Authors: Tokuhata, G K, Digon, E, Ramaswamy, K
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Age groups; Aged; Alcohol Drinking; Alcohol related disorders; Alcoholism; Alcoholism - complications; Censuses; Child; Child, Preschool; Cirrhosis; Commerce; Death; Ethanol; Female; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Liver; Liver Cirrhosis - etiology; Liver Cirrhosis - mortality; Male; Middle Aged; Mortality; Pennsylvania; Sex Factors; Socioeconomic Factors; Socioeconomics; Statistics as Topic; Urbanization
• ISSN: 0083-1204
• DOI: 10.2307/4594146

Because cirrhosis of the liver is often associated with a history of chronic alcoholism, the cirrhosis mortality data for Pennsylvania counties were analyzed historically and cross sectionally by consumption of alcohol and several socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. Death certificates filed in the State health department were reviewed, and the diagnosis given on the certificate was accepted. Data regarding sale of alcohol were taken from the State Liquor Control Board reports. Socioeconomic grouping of counties was derived from a special report of the State planning board. Other information was taken from the U.S. census reports. The mortality rate of cirrhosis was positively and significantly correlated with the per capita consumption of alcohol, particularly when certain socioeconomic characteristics also prevailed. The level of death from cirrhosis was higher in the highest and the lowest income areas, in the most urban areas, and in the lowest socioeconomic index areas. Life expectancy of patients with cirrhosis was at least 10 years shorter than would be expected; this shortened life expectancy was noted particularly among those with alcoholism and especially among alcoholic women. The death rate from cirrhosis did not increase historically as much as that of the net increase in per capita consumption of alcohol. This fact, together with the complex relationship observed between cirrhosis and alcohol and between certain socioeconomic characteristics, seemed to indicate that other etiological factors, such as dietary insufficiency, were important. The relative importance of cirrhosis as a cause of death in the presence of other competing risks of life was highest in the age group 25-29 years. Further studies will have to be made before the different causes of cirrhosis of the liver are understood.