Factors Associated with Drinking Behavior among People Living in Rural Mountain Area of Korea

Background and Issues: While negative health outcomes of harmful drinking have been known, specific factors associated with harmful drinking behaviors and characteristics of binge drinkers living in rural mountain area of Korea remain unclear.

Description: A total of 165 adults aged 35-79 participated in this study. The participants completedthe questionnaire assessingage, gender, age at first alcohol use, socioeconomic status(education, occupation, income, and marital status), smoking, eating habit(adding extra salt to their food), physical activity, depression, and stress in August 2013. We also measured body mass index(BMI), blood pressure(BP), hemoglobin A1c(HbA1c), blood sugar test(BST), total cholesterol, triglycerides(TG), and bone density of the participants. Harmful drinking was assessed using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test(AUDIT) scores that were classified according to the WHO guidelines. SAS version 9.3 was used for Chi square test and T-test for data analysis.

Lessons Learned: About 24.9% of the participants(40.0% of men and 10.6% of women) were found to be the problem drinkers. Compared to the normal drinking group, problem drinkers exhibited significantly differences in diastolic blood pressure(t=-3.73, p<.001), HbA1C(t=2.34, p=.021), and bone density(t=-2.09, p=.040). Health behavior is associated with drinking characteristics. While 36.3% of normal drinkers were smokers, 73.2% of problem drinkers were smokers(p<.001). 80.5% of the problems drinkers added extra salt on their food whereas 70.2% of the normal drinkers added extra salt(p=.048).

Recommendations: Findings from the present study indicated that the problem drinking is associated with health status and behavior. These characteristics need to be considered when developing health promotion programs for problem drinkers.