The relation between socio-economic indicators, the incidence of alcoholism and alcoholic psychosis in Russia, 1992-2020

Introduction. Alcoholism is still a pressing socio-medical problem in Russia that needs to be considered within the broader socio-economic context. Therefore, this study focuses on socio-economic indicators and their association with the incidence of alcoholism and alcoholic psychoses. Aim. To study the correlations of socio-economic indicators with the incidence (the number of new cases) of alcoholism and alcoholic psychoses in Russia, 1992-2020. Materials and methods. Correlation analysis was used to analyze the relationships between a set of socio-economic indicators, cases of alcoholism and alcoholic psychoses. Data analysis was conducted using the SPSS software package. Results. The incidence of alcoholic psychoses correlates with the Index of Economic Freedom (r= -0.427 | moderate association), Human Development Index (-0.629 | noticeable), unemployment rate (0.655 | noticeable), poverty level (0.482 | moderate). The incidence of alcoholism correlates with Gini coefficient (-0.595 | noticeable), Human Development Index (-0.975 | strong), unemployment rate (0.765 | high), poverty level (0.803 | high), price of vodka (0.769 | high). Public health expenditure in relation to GDP (%) does not correlate with the incidence of alcoholic psychoses and alcoholism. Conclusion. The results of the study showed significant associations with 6 out of 7 socio-economic indicators. This may indicate that the incidence of alcoholism and alcoholic psychoses is largely caused by the socio-economic situation.