Factors associated with high-risk alcohol consumption among health science undergraduate students

ABSTRACT Alcohol is the drug most frequently used by university students, since the transition period from high school to university represents a new phase in the lives of many students due to their greater exposure to changes in family life, social groups and daily activities. Purpose: To evaluate the pattern of alcohol consumption and the factors associated with high-risk alcohol consumption in undergraduate health science students in Aracaju/SE. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with 1,147 first year students of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, Physiotherapy and Nutrition of two universities in Greater Aracaju; one public university and one private. The instruments were two self-administered questionnaires, one to identify the general characteristics of the students and the other the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. Descriptive statistics were developed and the dependent variable was dichotomized for subsequent logistic regression. The chi-square test was applied to test the association between high-risk alcohol consumption and the other variables studied. The level of significance was 5%. Results: It was found that 80.7% of the sample population had consumed alcoholic beverages at least once in their lives and that 68.8% had ingested alcohol in the last year. The mean age at onset of alcohol testing was 15.82 years. The pattern of risk consumption was demonstrated in 21.1% of the students and was positively associated with male (OR = 2.94), private education institution (OR = 1.59), smoker (OR = 5.99) (OR = 2.35), use associated with energy drinks (OR = 1.83), drink driving (OR = 1.85), driving with a drunk driver (OR = 3.16) and use of other drugs (OR = 1.84). Conclusion: A precocious start to experimenting with alcohol and a high prevalence of high-risk alcohol consumption was observed among the health science undergraduate students in Aracaju/ SE. The risk factors most strongly associated with this pattern of consumption were smoking, driving with a drunk driver and being male.

摘要 酒精是大学生最常使用的精神活性物质。高中至大学的过渡阶段是多数学生人生的全新阶段，此阶段他们会更多地经历家庭生活、社交群体及日常活动的变迁。研究目的：评估巴西阿拉卡茹市（Aracaju/SE）健康科学专业本科生的饮酒模式，以及与高危饮酒行为相关的影响因素。研究方法：本研究为横断面研究，纳入大阿拉卡茹地区两所高校（1所公立、1所私立）的1147名大一学生，专业涵盖临床医学、口腔医学、护理学、物理治疗学及营养学。研究工具为两份自填式问卷：一份用于收集学生的一般人口学特征，另一份为酒精使用障碍筛查量表（Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test）。统计学分析采用描述性统计方法，将因变量进行二分类处理后开展后续的Logistic回归分析；采用卡方检验分析高危饮酒行为与各研究变量间的关联，检验水准设定为5%。研究结果显示，本次研究样本中80.7%的学生曾至少饮用过一次含酒精饮品，68.8%的学生在过去1年内有饮酒行为；首次饮酒的平均年龄为15.82岁。共有21.1%的学生存在高危饮酒行为，该行为与以下因素呈正相关：男性（优势比OR=2.94）、就读私立院校（OR=1.59）、吸烟（OR=5.99）（OR=2.35）、与能量饮料联合饮用（OR=1.83）、酒后驾驶（OR=1.85）、乘坐醉酒驾驶员驾驶的车辆（OR=3.16）以及使用其他精神活性物质（OR=1.84）。研究结论：阿拉卡茹市（Aracaju/SE）健康科学专业本科生中，存在饮酒起始年龄偏早及高危饮酒行为患病率较高的现象；与该饮酒模式关联最紧密的危险因素为吸烟、乘坐醉酒驾驶员驾驶的车辆及男性身份。