Using Respondent Driven Sampling for assessing alcoholism in women

ABSTRACT In this cross-sectional observational study, our focus is to show statistics related to women who use excessive alcohol. Howewer, the difficulty to obtain a frame to consider a sampling design of alcoholic women, it was decided as an alternative the use of the Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS) method. The method allowed the presentation of indicators related to alcoholism based on a sample of 36 women selected from treatment centers. The results of the survey showed that of 91.7% of women who make excessive use of alcohol in combination with other drugs, 69.44% use marijuana and cigarettes. And, of the 30,087 women who consume alcohol, 24,371 need evaluation and treatment.