Drinking patterns and harm of unrecorded alcohol in Russia: a qualitative interview study

Abstract

Background: Consumption of unrecorded alcohol (alcohol, consumed as a beverage, but not reflected in official statistics) has been linked to heavy drinking and alcohol-related mortality in Russia, with different studies looking for possible toxic components or other explanations. This study explores self-reported drinking behaviors of people diagnosed with alcohol dependence to elicit the perspectives of consumers of unrecorded alcohol.

Methods: Semi-structured in-depth expert interviews were conducted with patients (n = 25) of state-run addiction treatment centers of two Russian cities. Interviews were analyzed using thematic content analysis.

Results: A strict hierarchy between different types of unrecorded alcohol products, their ascribed quality, and the subjective harm caused by their consumption was found, with home-made spirits for own consumption at the top and technical fluids at the bottom. The ranking order correlated with product price, social status of associated consumers, and severity of their alcohol dependence. Binge drinking was the prevailing drinking pattern and shifts from recorded to unrecorded consumption within a single binge or a zapoi (continuous drinking for at least two days) were typical. Consumption of low-quality unrecorded alcohol was associated with stronger hang-overs, zapois, alcohol psychoses and poisonings, and other indicators of alcohol attributable harm, while no such connection was found for spirits for own consumption.

Conclusions: In the dominant explanation patterns of the consumers, the experienced alcohol-induced harm is attributed to alcohol quality, while a thorough analysis of their reported drinking behaviors cannot exclude specific drinking patterns linked to the severity of alcohol dependence as the main determinants of the described health detriments.

Keywords:

• Russia
• unrecorded alcohol
• unrecorded drinking patterns
• alcohol-attributable harm
• alcohol dependence
• alcohol quality

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Olga Larionova, Alexandra Lubnina, Elena Neifeld, and all the staff members of the clinics in Barnaul and Petrozavodsk for their generous support and help in the field. Alexandra Neufeld and Xüsha Urmenic are thanked for translation checks. We also most warmly thank M. Katharina Wiedlack for her valuable comments on the in depth-analyses of the interview material and the Supplementary mayterial.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Additional information

Funding

Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, 10.13039/501100001655; Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, 10.13039/501100007451 and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.