CHANGES IN LIVER-CIRRHOSIS DEATH RATES IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES IN RELATION TO PER-CAPITA ALCOHOL-CONSUMPTION AND ALCOHOLICS-ANONYMOUS MEMBERSHIP

Objective. This study examines how trends in liver cirrhosis relate to per capita alcohol consumption and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) membersh ip in 33 countries between 1965 and 1991. It was expected that reducti ons in liver cirrhosis deaths seen in many countries would be related to both decreased consumption and increased AA membership. Method: Dat a on liver cirrhosis death rates, alcohol consumption and AA membershi p were gathered from a variety of international sources. The data were analyzed with regression analyses (Ordinary Least Squares). Results: Cirrhosis deaths and alcohol consumption levels were positively relate d in all analyses. In two of the four analyses, the negative relations hip between cirrhosis deaths and AA group rates was marginally signifi cant. Conclusions: Liver cirrhosis rates were strongly related to alco hol consumption and showed some relationship to AA group rates. The mo dest impact of AA may be due to the weakness of the true relationship but also to incompleteness in the cirrhosis and AA data in some countr ies.