Leo Sher, M.D.

My research article, “Relation between rates of geriatric suicide and consumption of alcohol beverages in European countries” was published 15 years ago, in March 2006, in TheScientificWorldJournal (1).

The relationship between rates of suicide in 65- to 74-year-olds and per capita consumption of alcoholic beverages in European countries was examined in this study. Information on suicide rates in 65- to 74-year-old males and females and per capita consumption of beer, wine,  and  spirits  in  the  general  population  in  European  countries  was  obtained  from  the  World  Health  Organization  (WHO)  databases. All  European  countries  with  a  population  more  than  1  million  people for which the WHO data were available were included in the study (Albania,   Austria,  Belarus,  Belgium,   Bosnia and  Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, and United Kingdom).

There  was  a  positive  correlation  between  suicide  rates  in  65-  to  74-year-old  males and per capita consumption of spirits. No correlations between suicide rates in 65- to  74-year-old  males  and  per  capita  consumption  of  beer  or  wine  were  found.  We  also  found  no  correlations  between  rates  of  suicide  in  65-  to  74-year-old  females  and  per  capita consumption of beer, wine, or spirits.

The results of this study are consistent with reports that consumption of spirits is associated  with  suicide  events. The results of this epidemiological study should be treated with caution because of some limitations: (1)  per  capita  consumption  of  spirits  in  the  general  population  may  be  different  from  per  capita  consumption  of  spirits  in  65-  to  74-year-olds  and  (2)  this  study  does  not  take  into  account  cultural  differences and differences in drinking patterns between countries.

Reference

1. Sher L. Relation between rates of geriatric suicide and consumption of alcohol beverages in European countries. ScientificWorldJournal. 2006 Mar 27;6:383-7. doi: 10.1100/tsw.2006.71.