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| BRIEF RESEARCH ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2013 | Volume
: 57
| Issue : 1 | Page : 33-35 |
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A study on socio-demographic characteristics of alcoholics attending the de-addiction center at Burdwan medical college and hospital in West Bengal
Aditya Prasad Sarkar1, Subrata Sen2, Sudhakar Mondal3, Om Prakash Singh4, Amitava Chakraborty5, Bikash Swaika6
1 Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Burdwan Medical College, Burdwan, India
2 Medical Officer in Charge, Drug De-Addiction Center, Burdwan, India
3 Medical Officer, Burdwan Medical College, Burdwan, India
4 Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Burdwan Medical College, Burdwan, India
5 Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Burdwan Medical College, Burdwan, India
6 Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Burdwan Medical College, Burdwan, India
| Date of Web Publication | 4-May-2013 |
Correspondence Address:
Aditya Prasad Sarkar
Department of Community Medicine, Burdwan Medical College, Baburbag, Burdwan - 713 101
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0019-557X.111366
 Abstract | | |
Prevalence of alcohol use in India is reported to be 21.4% and there is increasing alcohol intake among the young people. The present study was undertaken to study the socio-demographic characteristics of patients having alcohol-related disorders attending the de-addiction center at Burdwan Medical College in West Bengal and to find out some factors responsible for that. A clinic-based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 187 patients with the help of pre-tested pre-designed schedule after obtaining informed consent. Data analysis was carried out with the help of Epi info software version 6. Majority of the patients were male, in productive age group and married. Age of initiation and amount of alcohol intake were significantly associated with positive family history of alcoholism. Children having family history of alcoholism should be counseled to prevent development of alcoholism. Keywords: Alcohol intake, Alcohol-related disorders, Socio-demographic characteristics
How to cite this article:
Sarkar AP, Sen S, Mondal S, Singh OP, Chakraborty A, Swaika B. A study on socio-demographic characteristics of alcoholics attending the de-addiction center at Burdwan medical college and hospital in West Bengal. Indian J Public Health 2013;57:33-5 |
How to cite this URL:
Sarkar AP, Sen S, Mondal S, Singh OP, Chakraborty A, Swaika B. A study on socio-demographic characteristics of alcoholics attending the de-addiction center at Burdwan medical college and hospital in West Bengal. Indian J Public Health [serial online] 2013 [cited 2022 Jan 25];57:33-5. Available from: https://www.ijph.in/text.asp?2013/57/1/33/111366 |
Alcohol consumption has been steadily increasing in developing countries like India and decreasing in developed countries since the 1980s. Now-a-days there is increasing social acceptance of alcohol intake in various strata of society. The concern, say experts, is that there has been a rapid change in patterns and trends of alcohol use in India; chief among them is people are beginning to drink at ever-younger ages. [1] Increase in alcohol intake is seen among the young people. Annual prevalence of drinking among adult males in India is low. However, the worrying development is that over two decades the consumption of alcohol in India has increased by 106% as against many countries where the consumption of alcohol declined. [2]
In National Household Survey of Alcohol and Drug Abuse (2003) 21.4% were reported to be current users of alcohol (used in last 30 days). [3] Health problems for which alcohol is responsible are only part of the social damage, which includes family disorganization, crime, and loss of productivity. [4] Alcohol is also considered as a risk-factor for traffic injuries as well as high-risk sexual behavior leading to sexually transmitted diseases. With this background the present study was undertaken to study the socio-demographic characteristics of alcoholic patients attending the de-addiction center of Burdwan Medical College and Hospital in West Bengal and to find out some factors responsible for alcoholism.
The study was clinic-based descriptive with cross-sectional design and was conducted at the de-addiction center attached to the Department of Psychiatry of Burdwan Medical College and Hospital in West Bengal. The center has been functioning from 1996 and clinic is being held on every Tuesday. The duration of the study was 1 year, that is, from July 2009 to June 2010. Total 195 alcoholic patients attended the de-addiction center during the study period and all of them were approached, but 8 patients did not give consent to participate in the study. Thus, 187 patients were included in the study after informed consent. They were assured about anonymity and interviewed separately. Data were collected with the help of pre-designed and pre-tested schedule and was analyzed with the help of Epi info software version 6.
[Table 1] shows that out of 187 patients, majority (98.93%) were male, in productive age group viz., 20-49 years of age (85%), and married (82.35%). Majority of the patients were having no formal education (45.99%) and unskilled laborers (55.08%). According to the Prasad scale for socio-economic status, majority of patients were in socio-economic class II (44.38%). | Table 1: Distribution of patients according to socio-demographic characteristics (n = 187)
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Family history of alcoholism was present in majority of patients (73.26%). [Table 2] reveals the relationship between family history and age at initiation of alcohol intake of the patients and it was statistically significant (P < 0.001). Most of the younger patients had positive family history of alcoholism. More than four-fifth of patients having 200-799 ml alcohol intake per day, had family history of alcoholism. Quantity of alcohol intake was found to be significantly associated with family history (P < 0.05). However, residence, educational status, and marital status were not found to be statistically significant (P > 0.05) for alcoholism. | Table 2: Distribution of patients according to family history of alcoholism with age of initiation of alcoholism and quantity of alcohol intake (n = 187)
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In a hospital-based study by Pradeep et al. most of the patients were in third decade of life like the present study. Marital status was also similar to that study. However, majority of the patients were educated up to secondary as compared to no formal education in present study. [5] In a community based study at Bangalore almost two-third of patients was in 26-45 years age group and majority had low education level. [6] Most of the patients were unskilled worker in present study and this community based study in Bangalore [6] as compared to hospital based study at Bangalore. [5]
Hill et al. [7] found that high-risk children with a greater familial density of alcoholism have a higher risk for early alcohol initiation than those with lower familial density of alcoholism. Similar finding was reported in a study conducted at Kerala. [8] However, in a study conducted at Bloomington, Indiana, the results showed remarkable similarity in alcohol consumption and drinking patterns between students who were classified as having a positive, as opposed to negative, family background. [9] The finding of inverse relationship between the ages of onset of initiation with severity of alcoholism in present study is consistent with the previous studies. [5],[10]
Therefore, from the study it can be concluded that the adolescents who have a positive family history of alcoholism should be treated as high-risk group for developing alcohol-related disorders. Educational programs for school children and campaign for general public in electronic media should be undertaken in this regard. In addition, Parents addicted to alcohol should be motivated to attend drug de-addiction center for giving up their addiction to save their children from falling a prey to alcohol addiction in future.
| References | |  |
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| 3. | WHO Regional Office for South-east Asia. Current Information on Use and Harm from Alcohol in the South-East Asian Region. Alcohol series no 6. New Delhi: WHO-SEARO 2007. p. 12.
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| 4. | Park K. Park's Text Book of Preventive and Social Medicine. 21 st ed. Jabalpur: M/S Banarasidas Bhanot; 2011. p. 774.
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| 5. | Pradeep RJ, Banu S, Ashok MV. Severity of alcoholism in Indian males: Correlation with age of onset and family history of alcoholism. Indian J Psychiatry 2010;52:243-9.
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| 6. | Gururaj G, Girish N, Benegal V. Alcohol Control Series. No. 1. New Delhi: World Health Organization, Regional Office for South-East Asia; 2006.
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| 9. | Engs RC. Family background of alcohol abuse and its relationship to alcohol consumption among college students: An unexpected finding. J Stud Alcohol 1990;51:542-7.
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| 10. | Grant BF, Dawson DA. Age at onset of alcohol use and its association with DSM-IV alcohol abuse and dependence: Results from the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey. J Subst Abuse 1997;9:103-10.
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[Table 1], [Table 2]
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