Alcoholic intake in a small rural village.
Eight hundred and eighteen (400 males and 418 females), randomly selected inhabitants of an economically depressed rural village in the south of Tenerife, have been analysed with respect to their daily alcoholic intake and its relationship to sex, age, marital status, educational and economical level, job, tobacco use and the CAGE and brief MAST tests. Five hundred and four (68.9%) consumed alcoholic beverages, while 254 (31.1%) were teetotal; 12.1% of the subjects aged more than 15 years (23.85% of the males and 1.4% of the females) consumed 'risk' amounts of alcoholic beverages (more than 80 g/day and 40 g/day respectively). Mean ethanol consumption was 37.9 +/- 2.1 g/day for the male sex and 3.9 +/- 0.6 g/day for the female. Maximum mean ethanol consumption (60.9 g/day) was observed among the males aged 55-64 years. The distribution of the population according to the amount of ethanol consumed fits into Lederman's curve, most of the individuals being consumers of small amounts of ethanol. Male sex, middle age, married status, unskilled job, low educational level, and tobacco use were all related to a higher ethanol consumption. CAGE and brief MAST tests detected only 40.5% and 47% respectively of the subjects with 'risk' levels of alcohol consumption.
Hospital Universitario de Canarias, Departamento de Medicina Interna, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain.
J
J
Tejera
F
F
Santolaria
E
E
González-Reimers
N
N
Batista
J A
JA
Jorge
L
L
Hernández-Nieto
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012424:Rural Population; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology