Hazardous alcohol use in rural southern India: Nature, prevalence and risk factors.
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Date
2009-05
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Abstract
Background. There is a dearth of data on the hazardous
use of alcohol in rural India.
Methods. We examined the nature, prevalence and factors
associated with hazardous use of alcohol among men in a rural
community in southern India. We used stratified sampling to
select subjects from the Kaniyambadi block and employed
‘AUDIT’, a standard instrument, to assess the use of alcohol.
Results. The prevalence of life-time use, use in the past
year and hazardous use of alcohol was 46.7%, 34.8% and
14.2%, respectively. Using Indian made foreign liquor (OR
20.51; 95% CI 8.81–47.75) and living in a village which
brewed illicit alcohol (OR 2.82; 95% CI 1.39–5.72) were
risk factors for hazardous use while education (OR 0.39; 95%
CI 0.21–0.72) was protective. These factors remained
significantly associated with hazardous use after adjusting for
age and education using logistic regression.
Conclusion. The relationship between the availability of
illicit and commercial alcohol and its hazardous use suggests
the need for an alcohol policy which takes into account health and economic issues and also implements the law to prevent the negative impact of problem drinking.
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John A, Barman A, Bal D, Chandy G, SamueL J, Thokchom M, Joy N, Vijaykumar P, Thapa S, Singh V, Raghava V, Seshadri T, Jacob K S, Balraj V. Hazardous alcohol use in rural southern India: Nature, prevalence and risk factors. National Medical Journal of India. 2009 May-June; 22(3): 123-125.