title: Is the population level link between drinking and harm similar for women and men?--a time series analysis with focus on gender-specific drinking and alcohol-related hospitalizations in Sweden.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A question that has not been addressed in the literature is whether the population level association between alcohol and harm differs between men and women. The main aim of this article is to fill this gap by analysing recently collected time series data of male and female self-reported drinking in relation to gender-specific harm indicators in Sweden.
  
  
  METHODS
  Male and female per capita and risk consumption was estimated on the basis of self-reported data from monthly alcohol surveys for the period 2002-07. Overall per capita consumption including recorded sales and estimates of unrecorded consumption were also collected for the same period. Alcohol-related hospitalizations were used as indicators of alcohol-related harm. Data were aggregated into quarterly observations and analysed by means of time series analyses (ARIMA-modelling).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall per capita consumption was significantly related to both male and female alcohol-related hospitalizations. Male per capita consumption and risk consumption were also significantly related to alcohol-related hospitalizations among men. Female per capita consumption and risk consumption had also a positive association with alcohol-related hospitalizations but statistical significance was only reached for alcohol poisonings where the association was even stronger than for men.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Changes in alcohol consumption in Sweden was associated with changes in male and female alcohol-related hospitalizations also in analyses based on gender-specific consumption measures. There was no clear evidence that the population level association between alcohol and harm differed between men and women.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs, SoRAD, Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Barbro
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Engdahl
authors.forename: Mats
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ramstedt
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D057566:Self Report; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult