Problems in Social Medicine Related to Alcohol and Deaths: Autopsy Cases in the Southern Part of Osaka City

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the social and medical background of alcohol dependence and to prevent the abuse of alcohol. METHODS: Alcohol and deaths were retrospectively investigated based on the forensic postmortem data of 1694 decedents ≥20 years of age in 2008–2017. Of these, the 999 cases that could be tested for alcohol within 48 h of death were examined. RESULTS: The alcohol-positive and alcohol-negative groups included 179 (17.9%) and 820 (82.1%) cases, respectively. In terms of medical issues, compared with the alcohol-negative group, men in the positive group were mostly in their 40s to 60s, whereas women’s age peaked in the 70s. The causes of death included many blunt injuries in men, though there was no difference in women. Underlying diseases were more frequent in men than women, with many of them having heart or liver disease, and the percentage of cases with mental disorders was 16.8% in the alcohol-positive group. In 15 cases of the alcohol-positive group, phenothiazine and barbituric acids were detected in 53.3% and 46.7% of cases, respectively. The incidence of traffic accidents and homicides was higher in the alcohol-positive group than in the alcohol-negative group. CONCLUSION: Measures to address social issues based on risk factors for alcohol and deaths are required.