Alcohol consumption and demographic characteristics of emergency service users in Tamaulipas, Mexico

Abstract

This study involved 141 patients who were attended by the emergency service of a hospital institution, in order to get to know the type of alcohol consumption, as well as the effect of some demographic characteristics (age, years of study, age when consumption started and hours of consumption before hospital visit) on alcohol consumption. Subjects were selected who were over 18 years old and presented alcohol consumption when they entered hospital. Two instruments were applied; one questionnaire with demographic characteristics and the AUDIT. The results showed that 75.9% were men with an average of age of 38 years and average education of 10.6 years; more than 60% were employed and a majority of subjects showed harmful alcohol consumption (93.6%). Age and years of study exerted a significant effect on alcohol consumption (AUDIT) with an explained variance of 17% (F 6, 134 = 5.93, p< .01)