A new University of Alaska Anchorage report says addictions and substance abuse play a role in nine of the state's top 10 causes of death. Poor diet and nutrition and exposure to harmful pollution are the next most significant factors in Alaska deaths. Health sciences professor David Driscoll says researchers see serious health conditions as rooted in other problems that can often be fixed before they lead to death. Driscoll and research associate Bruce Dotterrer compiled the report. The study pulls together research on seven underlying causes of death in the circumpolar region from Greenland and Iceland to Canada, Alaska, Russia and the Scandinavian countries.

(Associated Press)