Associations between iillicit alcohol consumption and harmful drinking patterns of the Thai population
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14456/dcj.2022.26Keywords:
unrecorded alcohol, illicit alcohol, binge drinking, high-risk level drinkingAbstract
One-fourth of alcohol consumption worldwide is unrecorded alcohol consumption, representing approximately 1.6 liters of alcohol per capita (APC), while the Thai population’s unrecorded alcohol consumption has a higher consumption rate, about 1.7 liters of APC. This study aimed to analyze associations between illicit alcohol consumption and harmful drinking patterns of the Thai population. A cross-sectional research was conducted using data from the Smoking and Drinking Behavior Survey (SDBS) in 2017, conducted by the National Statistical Office of Thailand (NSO), with a total sample of 22,610 respondents aged 15 years old and above being included for data analysis. The study investigated two types of harmful drinking patterns: binge drinking, and high-risk level drinking. Multiple logistic regression was utilized to investigate the associations between illicit alcohol consumption and the harmful drinking patterns. Illicit alcohol consumption had a greater prevalence of binge drinking than recorded alcohol consumption (58.87% for illicit alcohol consumption, and 37.14% for recorded alcohol consumption), as was the case for high-risk level drinking behaviors (10.49% for illicit alcohol consumption, and 5.99% for recorded alcohol consumption). After adjusting for potential confounders, illicit alcohol drinkers reported 2.55 times more likely to be binge drinkers compared to recorded alcohol drinkers (95% CI 2.54-2.56; p<0.001), and illicit alcohol drinkers had 1.57 times more likely to report high-risk level drinking patterns compared to recorded alcohol drinkers (95% CI 1.57-1.58; p<0.001). The study showed that illicit alcohol drinking was significantly associated with more harmful drinking patterns than recorded alcohol drinking. Therefore, relevant authorities should seriously enforce the regulations banning the smuggling and illegal production of unrecorded alcohol products.
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