Problem drinking among married men in India: comparison between husband's and wife's reports.
OBJECTIVE
This study compared the husband's report and wife's report of her husband's problem drinking, among residents of an urban slum in Bangalore, India.


METHODS
The data come from a feasibility study to prevent HIV infection among at-risk women in Bangalore. Household enumeration was carried out (n = 509) to choose 100 married men between 18 and 50 years who reported problem drinking (scores 8 and above) on the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT). Wives of these married men, considered to be at risk for HIV because of their husband's hazardous drinking, were subsequently recruited for the study (n = 100). Written informed consent was obtained; wives were asked about the drinking history of their husbands through the AUDIT-WR (Wife's Report) developed for the present study.


RESULTS
Prevalence of problem drinking in the enumerated sample (n = 509) was high (n = 186; 37%). The husband's report and his wife's report of his problem drinking was concordant (r = 0.57-0.75) on eight out of 10 items, and the total AUDIT score.


CONCLUSIONS
The AUDIT-WR is a reliable and culturally relevant measure of husband's problem drinking. In India, men with problem drinking are hard to reach. Therefore, proxy report of the wife may be useful when the husband is either unavailable or uncooperative for assessment.
Satyanarayana
Veena A
VA
Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO 63108, USA.
Vaddiparti
Krishna
K
Chandra
Prabha S
PS
O'Leary
Catina C
CC
Benegal
Vivek
V
Cottler
Linda B
LB
D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D011204:Poverty Areas; D015995:Prevalence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult