Is Family History Of Alcohol Use An Important Predictor Of Its Use? An Epidemiological Study In An Urban Slum Of North India.
Family History Of Alcohol Use An Important Predictor Of Its Use
Keywords:
Alcohol, AUDIT, Family history, WHOAbstract
Background and objectives: The increasing production, distribution, promotion and easy availability of alcohol coupled with the changing values of society has resulted in alcohol-related problems emerging as a major public health concern in India. The family plays a major role in terms of social, economic and cultural values. These influences can have both a positive or negative effect on developing norms and values within
the family . Thus, the increasing usage of alcohol is not just due to an individual’s likes or dislikes but rather due to several extraneous factors operating in respective societies. This understanding and identifying of critical factors is crucial to reduce the growing impact of alcohol use. The objective of the indexed study is to know the determinants of alcohol use in an urban slum of North India. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted in an urban slum of Meerut using a WHO questionnaire AUDIT and data was analysed in SPSS 19.0 using chi-square test and application of logistic regression to further rule out the confounding effect. Results: Association of alcohol use with age, occupation, marital status, caste and smoking habit of the respondent were statistically significant. No significant association of alcohol use was found with income of the respondent, family size, family type and socio-economic status. On applying Logistic regression, marital status, caste and family history of alcohol use remained statistically significant as independent variables. Interpretation and Conclusions: Alcohol use can be one of the disastrous health hazard because of its addicting and dependence inducing behaviour. This study is the cornerstone to produce the valid evidence of the effect of positive family history as one of the important predictor of alcohol use.
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