Abstract
Harmful use of alcohol ranks among the top five risk factors for disease, disability and death worldwide. However, not all individuals who consume alcohol throughout life are addicted and our premise is that addiction implies a chain of consumption that produces harmful effects. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether self-assessed past drinking problems - our measure of harmful alcohol consumption - affect the current alcohol consumption patterns. We expected that drinking problems in the past could have a positive effect on current alcohol consumption. Using Portuguese data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we applied an ordered probit model, given the ordered nature of the dependent variable. Our dependent variable measures the current consumption using categories listed in ascending order of alcohol intake frequency (from less than once a month to daily consumption). Our results suggest that harmful alcohol consumption in the past is an important determinant of current alcohol consumption. Self-assessed past drinking problems had a positive effect on the first five lower categories of current alcohol consumption frequency - less than once a month to up to six days a week. Therefore, to reduce non-communicable avoidable diseases related to the use of alcohol, policies should consider the individuals' decisions regarding alcohol consumption during their lifetime, and specific policies should focus on individuals with past drinking problems.
Highlights
Alcohol consumption is considered a major public health issue in the world 1
As we described in the previous section, our results suggest that harmful alcohol consumption in the past is an important determinant of current alcohol consumption
We investigated whether self-assessed past drinking problems, as a measure of harmful alcohol consumption, were related to current alcohol consumption
Summary
Alcohol consumption is considered a major public health issue in the world 1. Harmful use of alcohol ranked among the top five risk factors for disease and disability in 2010 2, and alcohol-attributable deaths and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) have increased worldwide, compared to 1990 3. The harmful use of alcohol causes approximately 5.9% of all deaths, and 5.1% of the global disease burden is attributable to alcohol consumption 1. Excessive alcohol consumption is responsible for health costs, and for economic and social costs [1,4]. Social impacts include death and disability resulted from accidents and injuries, violence and other crimes caused by the harmful use of alcohol [4,5]. The economic costs of excessive drinking include health treatment costs, as well as productivity losses [6,7,8]. Alcohol-attributable costs per capita in high-income countries ranged from USD 358 to USD 837 – PPP based 9
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