OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to estimate health-care costs because of diseases caused by alcohol consumption based on health system's perspective. METHODS Total direct health-care costs of alcohol drinking were the summation of the costs of alcohol drinking in inpatient and outpatient departments due to chronic diseases and acute conditions using prevalence-based approach. The al...

Alcohol-related cognitions, particularly expectancies for drinking and nondrinking and motives for nondrinking, are involved in the initiation, maintenance, and cessation of alcohol use and are hypothesized to play key roles in adolescent decision making. This study explored (a) the relationships between alcohol use expectancies, nondrinking expectancies, and nondrinking motives; (b) the roles ...

OBJECTIVES To examine, on empirical data, whether drinking patterns, in addition to overall alcohol consumption, contribute to differences in rates of alcohol related problems between populations. DESIGN Cross sectional survey. SETTINGS One Russian, one Polish, and one Czech city. PARTICIPANTS 1118 men and 1125 women randomly selected from population registers. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Pro...

Background: Alcohol is a potent teratogen and alcohol use in pregnancy and the periconception period can cause many complications in mother, fetus and neonate.  Discussion: Alcohol in the mother's blood passes through the placenta to the baby through the umbilical cord. Drinking alcohol during pregnancy can cause miscarriage, stillbirth, and a range of lifelong disorders. Alcohol-related birth ...

AIMS Previous research has shown that heavier drinkers, in comparison to light drinkers or abstainers, are more likely to favour increased access to alcohol and relaxation of control policies. Often, studies have not examined whether attitudes to alcohol policies vary according to a respondent's pattern of drinking. This study examined the association between drinking variables and views on pol...

Studies of alcohol use often depend on self-reported alcohol intake measured by quantity/frequency questionnaires. Previous research has shown that alcohol consumption may be underestimated by this type of retrospective questionnaire. The primary aim of this study was to compare the accuracy of an Alcohol Use Questionnaire (AUQ) with a 4-week diary account. A further aim was to explore patterns...

OBJECTIVE The present study examines the relationships among reasons for drinking, alcohol consumption, and alcohol-related consequences in two college-aged samples. Personal motivators such as mood enhancement and coping (tension reduction) have consistently been shown to predict problematic alcohol use, but because of the salient nature of social drinking in college, we hypothesized that soci...

Due to the emergence of research literature examining the prepartying behavior of college students, the present study examines students' varying drinking rates, blood alcohol levels (BALs), and alcohol-related consequences during two drinking events - one involving prepartying and one devoid of prepartying. Two-hundred and thirty-eight student drinkers completed an online drinking assessment de...

Drinking practices vary substantially among different countries. An understanding of such differences can help researchers, clinicians, and policymakers develop prevention, diagnostic, and treatment measures as well as overall alcohol policies that are appropriate for a given country. Accordingly, researchers have conducted cross-cultural analyses of drinking patterns and practices. Three count...