Objective: To describe patterns of alcohol consumption in the adult Brazilian population. Method: Multicluster random sample of 2,346 subjects 18 years of age or older, selected nationwide. Interviews were conducted in respondents' homes between November 2005 and April 2006. Results: About 48% of the sample had not drunk alcoholic beverages in the past year, with variations by gender, age, marital status, education, income and region of the country. Among drinkers, 29% reported drinking 5 or more drinks per occasion (men, 38%). Sociodemographic variables are associated with the frequency and amount of drinking, alcohol problems, and alcohol abuse and dependence. Among the whole sample (including drinkers and non drinkers), 28% reported binge drinking, 25% reported at least one kind of alcohol related problem, 3% were alcohol abusers and another 9% were alcohol dependent. Discussion: Abstinence is high in the Brazilian population. However, elevated proportions of those who drink consume alcohol in a high risk pattern (binge-drinking), report a high level of alcohol problems, alcohol abuse and dependence. National public policies must consider these factors, as well as the regional Brazilian differences. Descriptors

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Introducing restrictions on opening hours resulted in a significant decrease in murders, which confirmed what we know from the literature: restricting access to alcohol can reduce alcohol-related problems. Our results give no support to the converse view, that increasing availability will somehow reduce problems.

Background:The relationship between religious involvement and health has been subject to an increasing interest. However, studies investigating religious involvement are scarce outside United States and Europe. Objectives: This study describes religious involvement in the Brazilian population and its relationship with sociodemographic variables. Methods: In a Brazilian nationally probabilistic sample (n = 3,007), religious involvement variables and sociodemographic factors were assessed. Results: Five percent of Brazilians reported having no religion, 83% considered religion very important in their lives, and 37% attended religious services at least once a week. The most frequent affiliations were Catholicism (68%), Protestant/Evangelicals (23%), and Kardecist Spiritism (2.5%). Ten percent reported attending more than one religion. In line with studies in other countries, older age and female gender were independently associated with higher levels of subjective and organizational religiousness after controlling for other sociodemographic factors. However, educational level, income and black race were not independently associated with religious involvement variables. Discussion: This study shows high levels of religious involvement among Brazilians and suggests that religiousness may have different associations with other variables across different cultures. To better understand the influence of religion on health, it is necessary to expand this kind of survey to other cultures.

Objective: To describe patterns of alcohol consumption by adolescents in Brazil. Method: From November 2005 to April 2006, a sample composed of 661 subjects aged between 14 to 17 years was rigorously selected in Brazil using a multistage probabilistic method to represent the profile of the adolescent Brazilian population. Results: 34% of Brazilian adolescents drink alcoholic beverages. The mean age of drinking initiation was 14 years of age. Older adolescents, as well as those living in the southern part of Brazil, those who are not attending school and those who are working, and black individuals and those with personal income reported a higher frequency of drinking. Socio-demographic factors such as gender, income bracket, family income and student status do increase the amount of alcohol consumed. Males report a higher frequency of binge drinking than females. Moreover, more than half of the males that had drunk in the previous year reported having engaged in binge drinking on at least one occasion. Beer represents approximately half of all the drinks consumed by adolescents. There was no significant difference between genders in the kind of alcohol consumed. Discussion: Among adolescents who drink, the consumption of several drinks is frequent. Alcohol consumption varies from region to region, social economic status (including self-generated income) and age. These findings are discussed in light of their importance for the development of alcohol prevention policies in Brazil. Descriptors

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OBJECTIVE:To estimate the prevalence of intimate partner violence and alcohol consumption during episodes of violence. METHODS:Cross-sectional study with a multi-stage probability sample, representative of the Brazilian population. Sample was comprised of 1,445 men and women, married or cohabitating, interviewed between November 2005 and April 2006. Interviews were conducted in the interviewees' homes, using a standardized closed questionnaire. Rates of prevalence of intimate partner violence were estimated and chi-square tests were used to assess gender differences in this prevalence. RESULTS:General prevalence of intimate partner violence was 10.7% in men and 14.6% in women. Men consumed alcohol in 38.1% of cases and women in 9.2%. As regards perception of alcohol consumption by intimate partner, men reported their female partners consumed alcohol in 30.8% of episodes of violence, while women reported that their male partners consumed it in 44.6% of episodes. CONCLUSIONS:Women were more frequently involved in mild and serious episodes of violence (perpetration, victimization or both) than men. The fact that episodes of violence reported were four times more frequent in intoxicated men enables the assumption that prevention of intimate partner violence may be promoted by public policies aimed at reducing alcohol consumption. 23 16% of American couples had experienced one or more types of IPV in the 12 months preceding the interviews. The majority of aggressions were considered mild violence (slapping and shoving, for example). However, about one third of episodes reported were serious (beating, choking, hitting with an object, forced sex, threat with or use of a knife or firearm). The same study concluded that the index of male partner violence against females was similar to that of female partners against males, as observed in 1975 and confirmed by other studies. DESCRIPTORS:1,23 Even though women perpetrate as much violence as their male partners in terms of frequency, they are more likely to suffer serious injuries.25 A study performed in the United States revealed that about 20% of traumarelated visits to an emergency department and 25% of homicides in women involved IPV. 19 In the United States, IPV estimates based on data from the National Longitudinal Survey, conducted in 1995, showed that the 12-month IPV index among couples varies between 17% and 39%, with indices of male violence against women and female violence against men corresponding to 13,6% and 18,2%, respectively. 22Previous research has also established a consistent positive association between male and female problems related to alcohol or alcohol dependence and IPV.14,18 Some studies have showed time associations between alcohol and IPV so that conditional probabilities of perpetration of male violence against women were nine times higher when men drank, compared to days without alcohol consumption. Probabilities were also 19 times higher on days of high alcohol consumption than those on days without consumption.5 Studies with the ...

Consistent with the prevention paradox literature, most drinking problems in Brazil are associated with low or moderate drinking. Binge drinking accounts more clearly for the distribution of alcohol problems than total volume consumed.