scholarly journals Health behavior in the Nordic countries

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tinna Laufey Ásgeirsdóttir ◽  
Ulf-G Gerdtham

This paper provides a descriptive analysis of the level of and change in cigarette smoking, excessive alcohol consumption and body weight in Nordic countries and compares them with non-Nordic OECD countries. Our results show that the average prevalence of daily smokers is significantly lower for Nordic countries compared to non-Nordic countries. Four out of five Nordic countries are below the non-Nordic average. However, for alcohol consumption and obesity, it is more difficult to see a clear difference between Nordic countries and non-Nordic countries. Sweden ranks relatively low on all three health behaviors, while alcohol consumption is relatively high in Finland and Denmark. Smoking rates are relatively high in Norway, while the obesity rate is relatively high in Iceland. We conclude that although Nordic populations are often perceived as relatively homogeneous in terms of cultural and political aspects, there are interesting differences in health behaviors within these Nordic countries. These differences need more focus in health-economics research and may have a significant potential in light of the availability of health surveys and administrative register data that can sometimes be linked at the individual level. Such Nordic analyses may, in general, help to move the research front forward and can also be used to predict changes in population health and to study the effectiveness of health economic policies.Published: April 2016.

Author(s):  
Marina Kolosnitsyna ◽  
Marat Sitdikov ◽  
Natalia Khorkina

Kolosnitsyna, M., Sitdikov, M., & Khorkina, N. (2014). Availability restrictions and alcohol consumption: A case of restricted hours of alcohol sales in Russian regions. The International Journal Of Alcohol And Drug Research, 3(3), 193 – 201. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7895/ijadr.v3i3.154Aim: To determine how new restrictions on hours of alcohol retail sales influence alcohol consumption in Russia.Design: Natural experiment with combined regional and micro-data.Setting/Participants: Cross-sectional samples from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, corresponding to waves 18 and 19, years 2009–2010, 32 Russian regions and more than 7,000 adults (aged 15 and up) consuming alcohol at least once per month.Measures: Descriptive analysis of per capita alcohol sales at the regional level and regression analysis of pure spirit consumption at the individual level, controlling for various socioeconomic factors, including sales bans.Findings: We revealed a significant positive correlation between the amount of alcohol consumed and the number of hours of allowed alcohol sales when other factors were controlled. The results gained from analyzing the micro-data were confirmed using the regional sales information. In terms of drinking reduction, sales restrictions in the evening hours seem more efficient than restrictions in the morning hours. Restricted hours of sale do not increase consumption of beer or home-distilled alcohol.Conclusions: Alcohol consumption depends on the hours of sale, all else being equal. Restricting the legal hours of alcohol sales in Russian regions has the potential to reduce consumption levels. These findings indicate a need for a further reduction in sales hours in the regions where heavy drinking is especially widespread.


Medicines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 39
Author(s):  
Akihiko Shibamoto ◽  
Tadashi Namisaki ◽  
Junya Suzuki ◽  
Takahiro Kubo ◽  
Satoshi Iwai ◽  
...  

: Background: This study aimed to compare the diagnostic performance of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) and gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase (γ-GTP) to assess the single and combined benefits of these biological markers for the detection of chronic excessive alcohol consumption in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis. Methods: Biological markers were determined in blood samples from patients with alcoholic cirrhosis (drinking group, n = 35; nondrinking group, n = 81). The prediction accuracy of %CDT alone, γ-GTP alone, and their combination for the detection of excessive alcohol consumption was determined in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis. Results: Serum total bilirubin, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, γ-GTP, and alkaline phosphatase levels and %CDT were significantly higher and serum albumin levels were significantly lower in the drinking group than in the nondrinking group. The combination of %CDT and γ-GTP compared with %CDT or γ-GTP alone showed a higher prediction accuracy. The combination of %CDT and γ-GTP exhibited a higher specificity than γ-GTP alone. However, in terms of sensitivity, no significant difference was found between single or combined markers. Conclusions: The combination of %CDT and γ-GTP is considered a useful biomarker of chronic excessive alcohol consumption in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis.


Author(s):  
Beata Gavurova ◽  
Miriama Tarhanicova

Background: Alcohol is a risk factor with serious consequences for society and individuals. This study aims to present methods and approaches that might be used to estimate the costs related to excessive alcohol consumption. It emphasizes the need for general methods and approaches that are easily applicable, because the level of digitalization and data availability vary across regions. The lack of data makes many methods inapplicable and useless. The ease of applicability will help to make cost-of-illness studies and their results comparable globally. Methods: This study is based on data from the Czech Republic in 2017. Drinking alcohol results in costs of healthcare, social care, law enforcement, and administrative costs of public authorities. To quantify the cost of drinking in the Czech Republic, the top-down approach, bottom-up approach, human capital approach and attributable fractions were used. Results: In 2017, the cost related to alcohol was estimated at 0.66% of the national GDP. Lost productivity represented 54.45% of total cost related to alcohol. All cost related to alcohol is considered to be avoidable. Conclusions: The methods and approaches applied to estimate the cost of disease or any other health issue should be generalized regarding the availability of data and specifics of provided services to people who are addicted or have any kind of disability.


2006 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 643-649 ◽  
Author(s):  
SWATI SHOURIE ◽  
KATHERINE M. CONIGRAVE ◽  
ELIZABETH M. PROUDE ◽  
JEANETTE E. WARD ◽  
SONIA E. WUTZKE ◽  
...  

2012 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 306-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphanie Faure ◽  
Astrid Herrero ◽  
Boris Jung ◽  
Yohan Duny ◽  
Jean-Pierre Daures ◽  
...  

Nutrients ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1680 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siyul Byeon ◽  
Jisun Oh ◽  
Ji Lim ◽  
Jeong Lee ◽  
Jong-Sang Kim

Gastric ulcer is a major digestive disorder and provoked by multifactorial etiologies, including excessive alcohol consumption. In this study, we examined the gastroprotective effect of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of Dioscorea batatas Decne (DBD; commonly called Chinese yam) flesh or peel against acidified ethanol-induced acute gastric damage in mice. Our findings demonstrated that oral supplementation of aqueous or ethanolic extracts of DBD flesh or peel before ulcer induction was significantly effective in macroscopically and histologically alleviating ethanol-induced pathological lesions in gastric mucosa, decreasing the plasma levels of inflammatory mediators, such as nitric oxide and interleukin-6, attenuating the gastric expression of cyclooxygenase-2, and increasing the gastric content of prostaglandin E2. In particular, pretreatment with the flesh extract prepared in 60% ethanol prominently decreased the expression of biomarkers of oxidative stress, including the plasma levels of 8-hydroxy-2-guanosine and malondialdehyde, and restored heme oxygenase-1 expression and superoxide dismutase activity in the stomach. Overall, these findings suggest that the oral supplementation with DBD extract, especially flesh ethanol extract, prior to excessive alcohol consumption, may exert a protective effect against ethanol-induced gastric mucosal damage in vivo, presumably through the activation of the antioxidant system and suppression of the inflammatory response.


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