Alcoholism is the leading risk factor for the health of Brazilians

Alcoholism is the leading risk factor for health in Brazil. The information is from the Global Burden of Disease 2010, document organized by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington and partnership with dozens of universities around the world. The result of the overall effort, which will be published today in The Lancet, lists 67 issues that most affect people around the world. On the planet, the greatest evil is high blood pressure, which in 2010, the survey reference, killed 9 million people and affects 173 million individuals.
Each region, however, has a particular list. Brazil was placed in an area called "Latin America Tropical," which also includes Paraguay. The estimate of the study is that alcoholism affects about 5.64 million people in these countries. In 2010, there were approximately 151 000 deaths for the problem. The second risk factor is high blood pressure, responsible for more deaths (about 274 thousand), but that affects around 5.3 million people. Thirdly, obesity, with four million patients and 141,000 deaths this year.
Points in the study, decreased importance of risks related to malnutrition. Infant mortality fell by 60% problem between 1970 and 2010. Increased from 16.4 million to 6.8 million per year.
- For 20 years, people did not have enough to eat. Today, there are lots of food and unhealthy food, even in developing countries - says Majid Ezzati, an author of the study from the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, England.
To the psychiatrist Nelson Caldas, Division of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, University Hospital Clementino Fraga Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), the study shows that there was a concern regarding the increase in life expectancy, but not with awareness of healthy habits.
- Alcoholism can lead to many problems like, including obesity and high blood pressure who are at the top of the list - the psychiatrist says Nelson Caldas, Division of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, University Hospital Clementino Fraga Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). - It's a case of thinking up campaigns warning about the problem have been really effective.