ECOLOGICAL CORRELATION BETWEEN ALCOHOL-US E AND CIRRHOSIS MORTALITY IN MEXICO

Objective. To determine the correlation between alcohol consumption an d mortality from liver cirrhosis in Mexico, Material and methods. Anal ysis of the ecological correlation between the patterns of alcohol con sumption determined by the National Addiction Survey in 1993 and morta lity by liver cirrhosis, in the period between 1971-1993, in the eight regions in which the country was divided. To determine level of corre lation,the Pearson and Spearman coefficients were calculated. Results. Significant correlations were only found with the prevalence of spiri ts and pulque drinkers; with beer drinkers the correlation was negativ e, Conclusions. The correlation with pulque is interesting, since pulq ue consumption is considered to be low scale in some rural areas. The negative correlation with beer may indicate that beer drinking is not a good indicator of alcoholism. Results, though limited to the possibi lities of an ecological study, reveal the necessity of effective actio ns in the regions where spirits and pulque are consumed in excess.