Patterns of Alcohol Consumption among Male Adults at a Slum in Kolkata, India

Abstract

Globally, alcohol-abuse is a major cause of mortality and morbidity. Consumption of alcohol has increased in India in the recent decades. It is imperative to know the patterns of alcohol consumption among different types of consumers to launch a well-planned nationwide programme for the prevention and control of this devastating social pathology. This community-based, cross-sectional study was undertaken to identify the patterns of alcohol intake among different types of alcohol consumers and to assess the clinical signs of chronic harmful alcohol-use. A predesigned, pretested, semi-structured alcohol-use disorders identification test (AUDIT) questionnaire was used for interviewing males, aged >18 years, selected by random sampling from an updated household list of a randomly-selected sector of the service area of the Urban Health Centre in Chetla, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Written informed consents were obtained from all the respondents. Relevant clinical examination for chronic harmful alcohol-use was done according to the AUDIT clinical screening procedures. The results revealed that 65.8% (150/228) were current consumers of alcohol; 14% were alcohol-dependents; 8% were hazardous or harmful consumers, and 78% were non-hazardous non-harmful consumers. The mean age of the respondents at the initiation of drinking alcohol was 20.8+5.9 years. Eighty-six percent of dependents (n=21) took both Indian-made foreign liquor and locally-made alcoholic beverages. The proportions of alcohol consumers who drank alone among alcohol-dependents, hazardous or harmful consumers, and non-hazardous non-harmful consumers were 71.4%, 50%, and 7.7% respectively, and the difference was significant (p<0.01). Forty-one percent of the consumers drank at public places and workplaces, which may be socially harmful. About 38% of the dependents purchased alcohol from unlicensed liquor shops. Only 16% expressed concerns for their drinking habit mainly to the past illness. The proportion of the concerned respondents was higher in the hazardous and harmful drinking patterns than in the non-hazardous non-harmful drinking pattern, and the difference was significant (p<0.05). About 62% of the dependents had clinical signs of chronic alcohol consumption. The presence of a considerable proportion of alcohol-dependents, the low mean age at initiation of drinking alcohol, and the habit of drinking in public places and workplaces are the main areas that need special emphasis by intervention programmes.

Alcohol Consumption by workers in automobile repair shops of a slum of Kolkata: An assessment with AUDIT instrument

“…At least one clinical sign (out of capillary engorgement, scleral jaundice, hand tremor, tongue tremor, hepatomegally) was present among 26.7% of the sample population. This was consistent with Ghosh et al findings 16 . Therefore to give these workers a better quality of life (both mental and physical) , all steps must be taken immediately to eliminate alcoholism among them.…”

“…Almost two fifth of the sample population were hazardous and dependent drinker. This was in contrast to 21% in a study done on some large scale industries of Goa 21 and around 15% among the Chetla slum dwellers 16 . It is clear that the prevalence of alcoholism in these automobile repair workers was undoubtedly high.…”

“…In a community based study in the same locality, 66% of the slum dwellers were found to consume alcohol 16 . In our study on automobile repair workers, almost four fifth (79.05%) of the sample population was found to be consuming alcohol.…”

A Study on the Prevalence of Alcohol Consumption , Tobacco Use and Sexual Behaviour among Adolescents in Urban Areas of the Udupi District , Karnataka, India

“…An extensive literature review was done to explore studies documenting risk behaviours among adolescents in South Karnataka, Karnataka, South India and India. 4,11,13 All of the prevalent behaviours in these studies were noted, and those with the highest frequency were considered for the sample size calculation. With an expected prevalence of 49.1% (for an 80% power and a 5% margin of error) the sample size was estimated to be 384.…”

Epidemiological study of alcohol and tobacco consumption in people above 15 years of age in rural area of Nagpur, Maharashtra, India

“…3 Very few community-based studies have been conducted on the prevalence of alcohol use in India. [4][5][6][7] Alcohol consumption has a U-shaped relation with ischemic heart disease and is as well a strong frisk factor for hepatic cirrhosis and many other type of injury. People who drink light or moderate amounts have a lower death rate than non-drinkers while those who drink large amount have higher death rate.…”