[The quality of research publications in psychiatry]. / Kachestvo issledovatel'skikh publikatsii v psikhiatrii.

AIM: To evaluate the quality of research articles in psychiatry and addiction medicine published in 2015. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Five experts analyzed 51 research publications from 13 psychiatric and addiction medicine journals using a standardized questionnaire, which contains 4 general questions (type or results of the study) and 21 questions on the quality of the study. RESULTS: Only 2 articles (4%) met all criteria, 64% of the articles refer to the methodologically least demonstrative (uncontrolled/one-time, series of cases, non-randomized). The most vulnerable were the characteristics which were the most important for evidence: a description of the methods, statistical analysis, accounting for systematic errors and/or side effects, the distribution of patients by group. CONCLUSION: Research publications in psychiatry and addiction medicine have a low level of evidence.

Suicide and alcohol poisoning in Belarus between 1970 and 2005.

BACKGROUND: The association between alcohol and suicide is well documented. The solid body of research and empirical evidence suggests that hazardous pattern of alcohol consumption (binge drinking) lead to quicker and deeper intoxication, increasing the propensity for alcohol-related suicide. PURPOSE: To estimate the aggregate level effect of binge drinking on suicide rate. METHOD: Trends in suicide and fatal alcohol poisoning rate (as a proxy for binge drinking) from 1970 to 2005 in Belarus were analyzed employing ARIMA analysis in order to assess bivariate relationship between two time series. RESULTS: The results of time series analysis suggests close relationship between suicide and fatal alcohol poisoning rate at aggregate level. CONCLUSION: This study supports the hypothesis that suicide and alcohol closely connected in culture with prevailing intoxication-oriented drinking patterns and adds to the growing body of evidence that a substantial proportion of suicide in Belarus is due to acute effect of binge drinking.

El efecto de agregación entre el consumo de alcohol y la tasa de mortalidad por diabetes mellitus / Aggregate Level association between alcohol and diabetes mellitus mortality rate

Antecedentes: La diabetes mellitus es un importante tema de salud pública. El consumo de alcohol se considera un factor relevante en el riesgo de diabetes. Objetivo: Calcular el nivel de agregación de bebidas alcohólicas específicas en la tasa de mortalidad por diabetes mellitus. Método: Se analizaron las tendencias de los coeficientes específicos por género de las tasas de mortalidad por diabetes mellitus desde 1981 a 2001 en Bielorrusia en relación con las tendencias de ventas de diferentes tipos de bebidas alcohólicas utilizando análisis de series temporales. Resultados: El análisis sugiere un efecto positivo y estadísticamente significativo de los cambios en la venta per capita de bebidas fuertes (vodka) en la tasa de mortalidad por diabetes entre hombres y mujeres. Conclusión: Este artículo ofrece nuevas evidencias epidemiológicas de la relación del nivel de agregación entre la tasa de mortalidad por diabetes y la venta de bebidas alcohólicas fuertes per capita

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a major public health issue. Alcohol abuse is a factor that has been suggested to be relevant with respect to the risk of diabetes. Purpose: To estimate the aggregate level beverage-specific effect of alcohol on diabetes mellitus mortality rate. Method: Trends in genderspecific coefficients of diabetes mortality rate from 1981 to 2001 in Belarus were analyzed in relation to trends in the level of different types of alcoholic beverages sales per capita by using time series analysis. Results: The analysis suggested a positive and statistically significant effect of changes in strong spirits (vodka) per capita sale on diabetes mortality rate among male and female. Conclusion: This paper presents new epidemiological evidence of aggregate level relation between diabetes mortality rate and strong spirits sale per capita