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Background: Perceived discrimination has been linked to worse mental health. However, little is known about this association in the countries of the former Soviet Union (fSU). Aim: To address this deficit, this study examined the link between perceived discrimination and psychological distress in nine fSU countries. Methods: Data were analyzed from 18,000 adults aged ⩾18 years obtained during the Health in Times of Transition (HITT) survey undertaken in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine in 2010 and 2011. A single-item measure was used to assess discrimination. Psychological distress was measured with a 12-item scale. Logistic regression analysis and meta-analysis were used to examine associations. Results: After adjusting for all potential confounders, when using none/little discrimination as the reference category, moderate and strong discrimination were associated with significantly increased odds for psychological distress in the total population and in men and women separately with odds ratios ranging from 1.93 to 2.64. Meta-analysis based on country-wise estimates showed that the level of between-country heterogeneity was negligible. Conclusion: Perceived discrimination is associated with psychological distress in countries throughout the fSU. Quantitative and qualitative research is now warranted to determine its specific forms and impact on population health in individual fSU countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To investigate the phenomenon of alcohol poisoning in Russia and the countries in the European part of the former Soviet Union in the period 1970-2002., Methods: Four time points were chosen spanning the late Soviet and post-Soviet periods. Data relating to alcohol poisoning deaths were collected at each point for the countries in the region-Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine. Age-standardized death rates from alcohol poisoning were subsequently calculated for the total population and separately for men and women., Results: In 1970, the alcohol poisoning rates in the countries in this region were exceptionally high in comparative terms. Rates continued to rise in the late Soviet period in all the countries, only falling in the period following Gorbachev's anti-alcohol campaign. Mortality from alcohol poisoning became more common amongst women during the study period. In post-Soviet society alcohol poisoning mortality is occurring on an unprecedented scale although there may be some divergence in trends between the Slavic and Baltic countries which had mirrored each other in the Soviet period. Extremely high poisoning rates are probably explained by a combination of the volume of alcohol being consumed, what exactly is drunk and how it is being drunk. The consumption of illicitly produced alcohol in the post-Soviet period may also be contributing to the high mortality rates., Conclusions: Acute alcohol poisoning has now reached unprecedented rates in parts of the ex-USSR with worrying trends among men as well as among women. Effective action by the governments concerned is now essential.

Study Objective: This study examined the change in ethnic differences in mortality in Estonia 1989-2000., Design: Two unlinked cross sectional census based analyses were compared. Total and cause specific mortality was analysed for ethnic Estonians and Russians. The absolute differences in mortality were evaluated through life expectancy at birth and age standardised mortality rates. Relative differences were assessed by mortality rate ratios with 95% confidence intervals, calculated using Poisson regression., Setting: Estonia before and after the fall of the Soviet Union., Participants: Individual cause specific death data for 1987-1990 (69549 deaths) and for 1999-2000 (33809 deaths) came from the national mortality database. Population denominators came from the population censuses of 1989 and 2000., Main Results: In the period 1989-2000, ethnic differences in life expectancy increased from 0.4 years to 6.1 years among men and from 0.6 years to 3.5 years among women. In 2000, Russians had a higher mortality than Estonians in all age groups and for almost all selected causes of death. The largest differences were found for some alcohol related causes of death especially in 2000., Conclusions: Political and economic upheaval, increasing poverty, and alcohol consumption can be considered the main underlying causes of the widening ethnic mortality gap.