Prevalence of hazardous and harmful consumption of alcohol in the insured population of the Mexican Social Security Institute

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption among the insured population of Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (Mexican Social Security Institute, IMSS). MATERIAL AND METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 45,117 insured subjects from Mexico's 36 political districts; study subjects were interviewed using a structured and self-applied questionnaire on alcohol consumption, using the ten-item screening instrument AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test). The first three questions refer to the amount and frequency of drinking, the following three question to alcohol dependence, and the last four to alcohol-related problems. Each item has three to five options and each is scored progressively from zero to four. The prevalence of alcohol consumption was estimated with 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: The prevalence of problem drinkers (hazardous and harmful) was 12.8% (IC 95% 12.5-13.2); it was higher in men (22.2%; IC 95% 21.7-22.8) than in women (3.4%; IC 95% 3.1-3.6). An age effect was observed in men, while in women alcohol consumption was more homogeneous. In both genders consumption was higher in productive-age groups. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption is high in the insured population of the IMSS in Mexico. There is a need to implement health policies and health programs to diminish this serious health problem. The English version of this paper is available at: http://www.insp.mx/salud/index.html.