title: Prevalence and determinants of binge drinking in middle age in a transitional post-communist country: a population-based study in Tirana, Albania.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the prevalence and determinants of binge drinking in the middle-age population of transitional post-communist Albania, for which data were previously unavailable.
  
  
  METHODS
  A population-based sample aged 35-74 years, interviewed and examined in Tirana in 2003-2006, included 450 men and 235 women for whom data on alcohol intake were collected (65.5% response). Multivariable-adjusted logistic regression was used to assess the association of drinking patterns with sociodemographic, socioeconomic and psychosocial characteristics and coronary risk factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Age-standardized to the 2005 census, 9.2% (95% confidence interval, CI = 6.5-11.9%) and 10.3% (95% CI = 7.4-13.1%) of men reported two to three or more annual episodes of drunkenness and hangovers, respectively. In women, the prevalence of both these markers of binging was 1.4% (95% CI = 0-3.1%). Among men, 8.9% (95% CI = 6.2-11.6%) reported drinking > or =60 g alcohol per session. In multivariable-adjusted models in men, binge drinking was related to low educational level (odds ratio, OR = 1.8, 95% CI = 1.0-3.3), financial loss in the pyramid collapse (OR = 1.6, 95% CI = 1.0-2.5) and religiosity (inversely) in both Muslims and Christians (OR = 0.2, 95% CI = 0.1-0.4).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Among men in this transitional Southeast European country, social disadvantage and financial stress appear to promote alcohol abuse (which is rare in women), and traditionalism may be protective.
authors.affiliation: Department of International Health, School for Public Health and Primary Care (CAPHRI), Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, The Netherlands. Genc.Burazeri@INTHEALTH.unimaas.nl
authors.forename: Genc
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Burazeri
authors.forename: Jeremy D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Kark
mesh_terms: D054058:Acute Coronary Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000415:Albania; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003148:Communism; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D012922:Social Change; D012924:Social Conditions; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic