Alcohol and tobacco use among males in two districts in Sri Lanka.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the prevalence and consumption of tobacco and alcohol among males in the Colombo and Polonnaruwa districts.


METHODS
A cross-sectional study based on multistage cluster sampling was carried out in four Medical Officer of Health (MOH) areas in the Colombo (urban) and Polonnaruwa (rural) districts to assess the prevalence of tobacco and alcohol use. The Public Health Midwife areas were considered as primary clusters. The sample consisted of males over 18 years. There were 1318 from the Colombo District and 1366 from the Polonnaruwa District. The quantity frequency method was used to assess consumption.


RESULTS
Abstinence was significantly higher in the rural areas (75.2%) compared to urban areas (56.6%) (p < 0.001). Prevalence of current drinking in the urban areas (32.9%) was significantly higher than in rural areas (20.8%) (p < 0.001). Alcohol consumption in the urban areas (33.1 units/week) was significantly higher than in rural areas (20.9) (p < 0.004). 51.6/1000 males in the urban areas and 14.6/1000 males in rural areas consumed daily. The prevalence of current smoking was also higher in the urban areas (29.9%) than (p = 0.052) in rural areas (24.4%).


CONCLUSIONS
High-risk alcohol consumption was prevalent especially in urban areas as indicated by the mean alcohol consumption and number who consumed spirits daily. The prevalence of smoking is much lower than in many Asian countries but similar to western Europe.
de Silva
V
V
Department of Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. varunidesilva2@yahoo.co.uk
Samarasinghe
D
D
Gunawardena
N
N
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population; D012737:Sex Factors; D013188:Sri Lanka / Q000453:epidemiology; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult