A team of Russian, Estonian and UK scientists will be investigating alcohol's contribution to low life expectancy among Russian men, supported by a new programme grant from the Wellcome Trust's Populations and Public Health stream.

In 2003, Russian male life expectancy was 58 years, below India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. A previous study by the research team, led by Professor David Leon from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, has shown that excessive drinking alone accounts for 40 per cent of all deaths among men aged 25–54 years – around 750 000 deaths in Russia as a whole.

The new grant will allow the team to build on their previous research, by exploring the extent to which men move into and out of hazardous drinking, how the large amounts of spirits that are often drunk affect the body and what can be done to reduce the scale of the problem.

Image credit: Libby Welsh

See also

• Populations and Public Health (Biomedical science funding)

External links

• Professor David Leon (Full details on the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine website)