title: Alcohol misuse among university staff: a cross-sectional study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the prevalence of hazardous drinking among staff in a UK university and its association with key socio-demographic features.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  A university in the UK.
  
  
  METHODS
  All employees on the university employee database were eligible to participate. Those who completed and returned the questionnaire were included in the sample. Respondents were 131 university employees.
  
  
  METHODS
  An AUDIT cut-off score of ≥8 was used as a measure of hazardous drinking. AUDIT total score as well as a score of ≥1 in each of the three conceptual domains of alcohol consumption (questions 1-3), dependence symptoms (questions 4-6) and alcohol-related problems (questions 7-10) were used as indicators of levels of drinking and alcohol-related consequences. Secondary outcomes were employees' demographics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over one third (35%) of respondents were classified as hazardous drinkers. Twenty three per cent reported having blackouts after drinking and 14% had injuries or had injured someone. The odds of being a hazardous drinker for an employee in central departments (Human Resources, Registry etc) is only one third of that of an employee in science and health-related departments (OR = 0.35, 95% CI = 0.14 to 0.91). The proportion of hazardous drinkers was higher in males compared to females (43% and 30% respectively), part-time compared to full-time (46% and 34% respectively), and academic compared to non-academic employees (39% and 32% respectively), although these were not statistically significant (p>0.05). Furthermore, age, religion and ethnic origin were not found to be significantly associated with hazardous drinking, although total scores were significantly lower for ethnic minorities compared to white employees (p = 0.019).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this study, hazardous drinking was highly prevalent among university employees. However, overt recruiting of staff to address sensitive issues such as alcohol misuse is problematic.
authors: Department of Primary Care and Public Health Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom; Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors: Susanna
authors: S
authors: Awoliyi
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Ball
authors: Department of Primary Care and Public Health Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors: Norman
authors: N
authors: Parkinson
authors: Diabetes and Nutritional Sciences Division, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors: Victor R
authors: VR
authors: Preedy
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003710:Demography; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology; D014495:Universities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*