Prevalence and Patterns of Alcohol Intake Among Industrial Workers in Mangalore: An Appraisal by Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (Audit)

Abstract

BACKGROUND: WHO estimates two billion alcoholic beverages consumers and 76.7 million people with diagnosable alcohol-use disorders worldwide(WHO)and ranks 5th as a risk factor for avoidable disease measured by Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY) (WHO,2002). OBJECTIVE: 1. To Assess Prevalence alcohol use among the selected Industrial workers. 2. Factors associated with alcohol use. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in one of selected wood and plywood industry among all the industrial workers aged 18 years and above from October to November 2013. Socio-demographic profile of all the participants was collected, questions on prevalence and dependence on alcohol use and its dependence was assessed using AUDIT questionnaire modified as per local needs and validated was used. The data collected was analyzed using SPSS 16.0. RESULTS: Mean age of the study subjects was 33.4 years, most of the participants (44.8%) were in the age group of 18-28 years and majority were Hindu and were belonging to class IV socio-economic status. MAJORITY: (55.2%) of the study participants were alcohol users and majority (61.6%) was in the age group of 18-28 years. Religion and socio-economic status were the factors found to be statistically significant with alcohol use. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of alcohol use was significantly higher in the selected industry were religion and socio-economic status were the significant factors associated with tobacco use. Counseling and continuous monitoring is needed to reduce the prevalence of alcohol use and also further study is recommended on a larger scale.