Selected Alcohol Consumption Patterns of Korean Adults

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze selected alcohol consumption patterns of Koreans and draw some implications for future study. The data analyzed for this study was from the result of the Adult health behavior survey in the Third National Health and Nutrition examination survey in2005. The respondents of the adults health behavior survey were 7,802 adults who are 19 year-old and older in the household based, stratified sampling method. About 87.7% of the respondents have used alcohol during their lifetime, and 78.5% of the respondents have used alcohol during the preceding 1 year. About 54.6% of the respondents used alcohol monthly (male 73.3%, female 36.3%). In this study current drinkers were defined as those who have drunk at least one drink during the preceding one year, but the definition of current drinkers was different in the past surveys. We found that the proportion of current drinkers has been increased since 1989. For about of 33.3% of the current drinkers in 2005, the average amount of alcohol consumed in a day was more than 60 gram. Binge drinking rate was 46.3% for males (60 grams per occasion) and 9.2% for females (40 grams per occasion). Current drinkers' experience of drunk driving during the preceding year was 19.5% (25% for males and 6.9% for females). Among the current drinkers, about 19.0% was problem drinkers based on the result of the alcohol use disorder identification test developed by the World Health Organization, The cut point wass 12 for porblem drinker in Korea. A Chi-square analysis showed a significant association between alcohol use frequency and the amount of alcohol used (p<.0001). The higher the frequency of alcohol use, the higher the mount of alcohol used. A result of multi-variate regression analysis showed that alcohol consumption frequency, self-perceived level of stress, experience of drunken driving, and binge drinking explained about 73% of AUDIT score. There is a need for strengthened measures to high risk drinking and drunken driving. Alcohol use monitoring system is needed to provide evidence of alcohol related policies and projects, In addition, more national funding is needed to increase alcohol realted studies.