Abstract
According to evidence from developed countries, age at first alcohol use has been identified as a determinant of heavy episodic drinking (HED). This study aimed to investigate the association between age at first alcohol use and HED using data from the Smoking and Drinking Behavior Survey 2017, a Thai nationally representative survey. Binary logistic regression was used to examine the association. This study used data from 23,073 current drinkers in the survey. The survey participants were chosen to represent the Thai population aged 15 years and older. The prevalence of HED and frequent HED among Thai drinkers was 18.6% and 10.1%, respectively. Age at first drinking <20 years was associated with higher odds of HED (adjusted OR, 1.43; 95% CI, 1.26-1.62) and frequent HED (adjusted OR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.12-1.53) relative to age at first drinking ≥25 years. Regular drinking, drinking at home, and exposure to alcohol advertising increased the odds of HED. Drinking at home was associated with frequent HED. There was a significant interaction between the effect of age at first alcohol use and sex on HED and frequent HED with a stronger effect of age at first alcohol use observed in females. This study provides evidence from a developing country that early onset of alcohol use is associated with HED. Effective measures such as tax and pricing policy should be enforced to delay the onset of drinking.
Highlights
Alcohol use is associated with a substantial burden on mortality, morbidity, and healthcare costs [1, 2]
Lower age at first alcohol use and drinking at home were associated with frequent Heavy episodic drinking (HED)
Demographic and socioeconomic factors were associated with HED and frequent HED
Summary
Alcohol use is associated with a substantial burden on mortality, morbidity, and healthcare costs [1, 2]. Alcohol use was the leading cause of death among females (3.8%) and males (12.2%) aged 15–49 years [2] and disability-adjusted life years among females (2.3%) and males (8.9%) in 2016 [2]. Heavy episodic drinking (HED) or binge drinking, defined as an episode of drinking five or more standard drinks of alcoholic beverages for males or four or more drinks for females in about 2 hours [3], is a high-risk drinking pattern associated with harm to drinkers and others.
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