In the latest study conducted by researchers at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, findings have shown that living a solitary life and drinking alcoholic beverage may increase the risk for alcohol-related deaths.

The purpose of the experimental research, published in the September 2011 issue of PLoS Medicine, was to study the change in the prices of alcohol following new laws implemented in Finland from Jan-Mar 2004. Included in the study was the observation of fatalities that can be attributed to alcohol abuse. These include liver diseases and poisoning, violence and accidents due to alcohol.

Married couples and those who cohabit had a small increase in alcohol-related mortality from periods 2000-03 and 2004-07. But for people who live alone, the increase in mortality rate was substantially higher, particularly for men and women aged 50 to 69.

Men who live alone were 3.7 per cent (age-adjusted ratio) vulnerable to liver disease-- the most fatal alcohol-related illness-- before the price reduction on alcoholic drinks. The risk went up to 4.9 per cent after the prices were reduced.

Among women who live alone, their mortality risk from alcohol-related ailments, was 1.7 percent before the price reduction and 2.4 per cent after. Those women were also vulnerable to other alcohol-related disorders, accidents and violence-factors that contributed to the before and after ratios.

Kimmo Hettua, the lead author of the study explained living alone is related to the increased risk in alcohol-related mortality in Finland. He also brushed off the possibility that the same conclusions can be said of other cultures.