Alcohol and Unnatural Deaths in Sweden: a Medico-Legal Autopsy Study

All cases of unnatural death that underwent medico-legal autopsies (1992-1996) in Sweden were analyzed for alcohol involvement. 39% of the blood-tested cases were positive for alcohol. Almost 40% of the unnatural deaths were associated with alcohol. Alcohol involvment was noted in 35% of suicide cases. More than half of all deaths were in the age group 30-60 years. In Sweden, two of five unnatural deaths were associated with alcohol, this being a conservative estimate. Alcohol-associated mortality varies considerably between different groups of external causes of death, between genders, & with age. (71 refs.)