INCREASED INCIDENCE OF ALCOHOL-RELATED DEATHS FROM ACCIDENTS AND VIOLENCE IN SUBJECTS WITH ANKYLOSING-SPONDYLITIS

Subjects with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) have an increased incidence of deaths from accidents and violence, which is due in part, but perha ps not entirely, to the vulnerability of the affected spine to fractur es. The present study covered all the 71 subjects (58 men and 13 women ) who had died in Finland in 1989 and who were entitled under the nati onwide sickness insurance scheme to receive specially reimbursed medic ation for AS. The death certificates of an earlier cohort study dealin g with mortality in AS were also re-examined. Sixteen subjects (14 men and two women) in the 1989 mortality series had died of accidents and violence. Nine of the deaths (three accidents, two suicides and four alcohol poisonings) were alcohol related. The relative risk of such de aths in subjects with AS compared to the Finnish population as a whole was 2.64 (95% confidence interval 1.44-4.84). In the cohort study, 16 deaths had been due to accidents and violence, the expected number be ing 11.4. Eight of the 16 deaths had been alcohol related. Uncontrolle d use of alcohol is an important determinant in the surplus of deaths from accidents and violence in Finnish patients with AS.