The prevalence of alcohol consumption among the students newly enrolled at a public university

Abstract

Background:Alcohol is the number one toxic substance consumed by people of all age groups, which makes its use a public health problem. The overall trend shows that university students are those who suffer the most pressure.Objective:To assess the prevalence of alcohol use among students newly enrolled at a public university in Alagoas, Brazil.Materials and Methods:We conducted an analytical sectional study at the Federal University of Alagoas, with 1435 (44% of total) newly enrolled students of all courses in 2006. They answered a questionnaire based on the CAGE. Some points such as sex, age, marital status, course, housing, family characteristics and how drugs fit into in the student life were studied with the resources of EpiInfo version 3.3.2. The survey was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Federal University of Alagoas (number 000878/2005-17).Results:Of the group studied, 95.9% lived with family and 87.6% reported ever drinking alcohol at some time in their life. Of all the respondents, 55.4% of men reported having the habit of drinking with friends or colleagues (Odds = 0.71; CI = 0.58-0.88; P-value = 0.00088). Among all respondents, 17.7% of male students and 9.8% females skipped class after using alcohol (Odds = 0.52; CI = 0.38-0.72; P-value = 0.000023). The transition from adolescence to youth and study time at university is marked by greater vulnerability to alcohol abuse. The family is decisive for the initiation of alcohol use, and the university is a factor that increases the possibility of maintaining the practice. The fact that not all students were present in the classroom at the time of the application questionnaire may have limited the search because this was a sectional study.Conclusion:Alcohol consumption in this university is similar to that in other higher education institutions in the world, which is a cause for concern, since the external lesions are accentuated with the practice of using alcohol, characterizing the risk of violence.

Psychoactive substances use and associated factors among Axum university students, Axum Town, North Ethiopia

“…These results were lower than a studies done at Federal University of Alagoas, Brazil and among college students in Eldoret, Western Kenya with alcohol consumption rate of 87.6% and 51.9% respectively [10,17]. …”

Alcohol and Psychoactive Substance Use among University Students in Edirne and Related Parameters

“…Although the most commonly used substances are similar, the usage rates vary among the different studies. Contrary to our hypothesis, the rate of alcohol and illegal substance use was lower among Trakya University students when compared to the other international and Turkish studies (14,15,17,18,23,24,25,44,45,46). However, the rate of alcohol and illegal substance use in Altındağ et al (22) study was similar to our study.…”

“…The rate of alcohol and illegal substance use by university students worldwide varies between 13.5% and 42% for tobacco, 23.2% and 87.6% for alcohol, 6.6% and 46.7% for marijuana, and 2.4% and 13.3% for cocaine (14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21). In Turkey, among the university students, the rates vary between 27.3% and 64.4% for tobacco, 30.4% and 70% for alcohol, and 2.3% and 11.7% for illegal substances such as marijuana, cocaine, or heroin (22,23,24,25).…”

Psychoactive Substances Use (Khat, Alcohol and Tobacco) and Associated Factors among Debre Markos University Students, North-West Ethiopia, 2013

“…This result is lower than an electronic screening study done among university students in Sweden, which showed that majority of the students 91% consumed alcohol during the preceding three months [17]. This result is also lower than a study done at federal university of Alagoas, Brazil and among college students in Eldoret, Western Kenya with alcohol consumption rate of 87.6% and 51.9%, respectively [8,18]. The possible explanation for this large variation on prevalence of alcohol consumption could be; the socio-economic and cultural difference among this different group of students might have an impact on alcohol drinking rate and possibly the use of electronic screening method might eliminate either under reporting or false reporting by the students.…”