218917 Impact of Perceived Race based Treatment on Heavy Alcohol Consumption in Adults

Monday, November 8, 2010

Sameer Arora, MD MPH , Department of Epidemiology and Community Health, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
Background: According to latest estimates, 79,000 deaths in U.S. occur due to alcohol consumption. Excess alcohol use is the third leading lifestyle-related cause of death. Very few studies are available which describe the effect of perceived differences in race based treatment experience on likelihood of heavy alcohol consumption in adults.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to describe the effect of perceived differences in race based treatment experience on the prevalence of heavy alcohol intake in adults.

Methods: Cross sectional study of 2008, Behavioral risk factor Surveillance system (BRFSS) Survey analysis involving 20,622 (weighted n= 6,950,881) adults aged 18 years and above. Analysis done using SAS version 9.2 Main Outcome Measure: Self-reported heavy alcohol intake defined as “adult men having more than two drinks per day and adult women having more than one drink per day” as indicated on the survey.

Results: Adults who reported a perceived differential race based treatment experience were significantly more likely to be heavy alcohol drinkers than adults who did not report similar experience. (Adjusted odds ratio =1.10{95% CI: 1.08-1.11}). Study results also suggest that low-income, race, smoking, lack of health care coverage and lower education may significantly influence heavy alcohol consumption.

Conclusions: Adults who reported being treated differently because of their racial characteristic were more likely to be heavy drinkers. These findings suggest that perceived difference in race-based treatment or racial discrimination may be a predictor of heavy alcohol consumption in certain populations. More research is needed in future to support the evidence.

Learning Areas:
Epidemiology
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related public policy
Social and behavioral sciences
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
To describe the effect of self-reported differential race based treatment experience on heavy alcohol consumption in Adults.

Keywords: Alcohol Use, Treatment

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have a prior clinical background working in primary care and I was specifically interested in working on the topics related to Alcohol, Tobacco and Substance abuse and related disparities associated with their use.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.