%0 Journal Article
%T Ecological analysis of collectivity of alcohol consumption in England: importance of average drinker
%J British medical journal: BMJ
%D 1997
%A Colhoun, H.
%A Ben-Shlomo, Y.
%A Dong, W.
%A Bost, L.
%A Marmot, M.
%V 314
%N 7088
%P 1164-1168
%X OBJECTIVE: To assess whether the average consumption of alcohol is associated with the prevalence of heavy drinking, problem drinking, and abstention in England. DESIGN: Ecological analysis using data from a cross sectional household based survey of English adults. SUBJECTS: Random sample of 32,333 adults from the English population who participated in the 1993 and 1994 health surveys for England. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Association, expressed as the correlation coefficient, between the regional mean and median alcohol consumption and the regional prevalence of heavy drinking, problem drinking, and abstention. RESULTS: Mean consumption of alcohol in light to moderate drinkers was strongly positively associated with the prevalence of heavy drinking (r = 0.75 in men and r = 0.62 in women for drinking more than 21 and 14 units per week respectively). A similar association was found between median consumption and prevalence of heavy drinking. Abstention was not significantly associated with mean consumption in drinkers (r = 0.08 for men and r = -0.29 for women). Both the median and mean consumption in drinkers were positively associated with the prevalence of problem drinking as defined by the CAGE questionnaire on alcohol use (r = 0.53 for men and r = 0.42 for women for the association with mean consumption). CONCLUSION: Factors that increase the average consumption of alcohol in the population may result in an increase in the prevalence of heavy drinking and related problems.<p /><p>Language: en</p>
%G en
%I BMJ Publishing Group
%@ 0959-8138
%U http://dx.doi.org/