title: Binge drinking in 19 year old men.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe alcohol use, binge drinking and drinking consequences in 19 year old men.
  
  
  METHODS
  During a one-day army recruitment process mandatory for all Swiss males, a convenience sample of 1,004 men completed the "Health and Lifestyle Questionnaire", assessing demographics, alcohol use, binge drinking, and drinking consequences over the last 12 months. Binge drinking was defined as having 5 or more drinks on a single occasion at least once over the last 12 months. Among the 1,004 subjects, binge drinking could not be defined in 123 (12.3%) due to "don't know" responses, leaving 881 subjects with complete data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 881 subjects, 690 (78.3%) reported binge drinking at least once over the last 12 months, 269 (30.5%) with infrequent binge drinking (< or = 1x/month) and 421 (47.8%) with frequent binge drinking (> or = 2x/month). In addition, 379 (43.0%) of the subjects experienced 3 or more drinking consequences over the last 12 months and the number of these consequences increased as the frequency of binge drinking increased (trend analyses significant for 9 of the 12 consequences evaluated). Among the 687 subjects with moderate average alcohol intake (< 14 drinks per week), 252 (36.7%) reported infrequent binge drinking, of whom 82 (32.5%) experienced 3 or more adverse drinking consequences over the last 12 months, whereas 246 (35.8%) reported frequent binge drinking and 128 (52.0%) of these experienced 3 or more adverse drinking consequences.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Binge drinking in this sample of young men is frequent and is associated with numerous consequences, even among those consuming moderate amounts of alcohol.
authors.affiliation: Alcohol Treatment Centre, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Switzerland. jean-bernard.daeppen@inst.hospvd.ch
authors.forename: Jean-Bernard
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Daeppen
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Anex
authors.forename: Joëlle
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Leutwyler
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gammeter
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Darioli
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pécoud
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology; D014754:Violence