Socioeconomic factors, ethnicity and alcohol-related mortality in regions in Slovakia. What might a tree analysis add to our understanding?

Regional differences in alcohol-related mortality might reflect strong socioeconomic differences between regions. The present study examines the contribution of education, unemployment, income and minority proportion on regional differences in alcohol-related mortality for inhabitants aged 20–64 years. Linear regression analysis and a non-parametric regression tree analysis were used separately for males and females. The unemployment rate and low education appeared as important determinants of regional alcohol-related mortality, while the proportion of Roma and income were not significantly associated with alcohol-related mortality among males in Slovak districts. A district's unemployment rate was assumed to be the strongest predictor of the outcome measure.