title: ERICA: patterns of alcohol consumption in Brazilian adolescents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE To describe the patterns of alcohol consumption in Brazilian adolescents. METHODS We investigated adolescents who participated in the Study of Cardiovascular Risks in Adolescents (ERICA). This is a cross-sectional, national and school-based study, which surveyed adolescents of 1,247 schools from 124 Brazilian municipalities. Participants answered a self-administered questionnaire with a section on alcoholic beverages consumption. Measures of relative frequency (prevalence), and their 95% confidence intervals, were estimated for the following variables: use of alcohol beverages in the last 30 days, frequency of use, number of glasses or doses consumed in the period, age of the first use of alcohol, and most consumed type of drink. Data were estimated for country and macro-region, sex, and age group. The module survey of the Stata program was used for data analysis of complex sample. RESULTS We evaluated 74,589 adolescents, who accounted for 72.9% of eligible students. About 1/5 of adolescents consumed alcohol at least once in the last 30 days and about 2/3 in one or two occasions during this period. Among the adolescents who consumed alcoholic beverages, 24.1% drank it for the first time before being 12 years old, and the most common type of alcoholic beverages consumed by them were drinks based on vodka, rum or tequila, and beer. CONCLUSIONS There is a high prevalence of alcohol consumption among adolescents, as well as their early onset of alcohol use. We also identified a possible change in the preferred type of alcoholic beverages compared with previous research.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Epidemiologia e Métodos Quantitativos em Saúde, Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública Sérgio Arouca, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
authors.forename: Evandro Silva Freire
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Coutinho
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Medicina Social, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
authors.forename: Debora
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: França-Santos
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
authors.forename: Erika da Silva
authors.initials: Eda S
authors.lastname: Magliano
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
authors.forename: Katia Vergetti
authors.initials: KV
authors.lastname: Bloch
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Vigilância de Doenças e Agravos Não Transmissíveis e Promoção da Saúde, Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde, Ministério da Saúde, Brasília, DF, Brasil.
authors.forename: Laura Augusta
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Barufaldi
authors.affiliation: Hospital de Clínicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.
authors.forename: Cristiane de Freitas
authors.initials: Cde F
authors.lastname: Cunha
authors.affiliation: Escola Nacional de Ciências Estatísticas, Fundação Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
authors.forename: Maurício Teixeira Leite
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: de Vasconcellos
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
authors.forename: Moyses
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Szklo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000434:Alcoholic Beverages / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires