Abstract
BackgroundThe paper reviews alcohol consumption patterns and alcohol-related social and health issues among 15–29-year old young people in Asian countries, and discusses strategies for preventing and controlling alcohol use and related harms.MethodsWe searched Google Scholar, PubMed, and Web of Science for reports, reviews and journal articles published in English between 1st Jan 1990 and 31st August 2016.ResultsForty-one reports, reviews and journal papers were identified and included in the final review. The current drinking levels and prevalence among young people are markedly different between eight included Asian countries, ranging from 4.2% in Malaysia to 49.3% in China. In a majority of the selected Asian countries, over 15% of total deaths among young men and 6% among young women aged 15–29 years are attributable to alcohol use. Alcohol use among young people is associated with a number of harms, including stress, family violence, injuries, suicide, and sexual and other risky behaviours. Alcohol policies, such as controlling sales, social supply and marketing, setting up/raising a legal drinking age, adding health warning labels on alcohol containers, and developing a surveillance system to monitor drinking pattern and risky drinking behaviour, could be potential means to reduce harmful use of alcohol and related harm among young people in Asia.ConclusionsThe review reveals that drinking patterns and behaviours vary across eight selected Asian countries due to culture, policies and regional variations. The research evidence holds substantial policy implications for harm reduction on alcohol drinking among young people in Asian countries -- especially for China, which has almost no alcohol control policies at present.
Highlights
The paper reviews alcohol consumption patterns and alcohol-related social and health issues among 15–29-year old young people in Asian countries, and discusses strategies for preventing and controlling alcohol use and related harms
Search strategy We conducted a comprehensive thematic review of PubMed, Web of Science and Google Scholar for reports, reviews and journal articles published in English between 1st Jan 1990 and 31st August 2016, with search terms pertaining to “alcohol use or alcohol consumption or drinking”, “current drinking or risky drinking or risk alcohol use or risky alcohol consumption” “young people or youth or adolescent or adolescence” “health outcome or social outcome or harm” and “Asia or Asian countries”
We reviewed several major international sources of data and information regarding alcohol use in young people or youth: World Health Organization (WHO)’s Global Information System on Alcohol and Health; WHO’s Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health 2014; the WHO STEPwise approach to Surveillance (STEPS) program; the Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS); the
Summary
Forty-one reports, reviews and journal papers were identified and included in the final review. The current drinking levels and prevalence among young people are markedly different between eight included Asian countries, ranging from 4.2% in Malaysia to 49.3% in China. Alcohol use among young people is associated with a number of harms, including stress, family violence, injuries, suicide, and sexual and other risky behaviours. Alcohol policies, such as controlling sales, social supply and marketing, setting up/raising a legal drinking age, adding health warning labels on alcohol containers, and developing a surveillance system to monitor drinking pattern and risky drinking behaviour, could be potential means to reduce harmful use of alcohol and related harm among young people in Asia
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