Prevalence of Excessive Alcohol Use and Association Between Excessive Alcohol Use and Abnormal Self-recognition ： A Cross Sectional Study of Three Colleges in Mie Prefecture m Japan

摘要

Introductions: Excessive drinking by college students is a major public health problem. However, data on binge drinking and self-recognition by college students in Japan are scarce. We surveyed the drinking behavior of college and graduate students at three colleges, and clarified the association between excessive intake of alcohol and self-recognition regarding drinking.Subjects and Methods: The research design was a cross-sectional study by self-administrated questionnaire. From January to March 2013, we sampled all college students and graduate students aged 20 years or older during annual health examinations at three colleges in Mie Prefecture, Japan. Measurement items were as follows:1)frequency of drinking alcohol,2) amount of drinking per day, 3) binge drinking in the past year, 4) self-recognition regarding the amount of drinking. We defined "excessive weekly drinking" as pure alcohol intake of 140 g per week for men and > 70 g per week for women. Excessive alcohol use was defined as excessive weekly drinking, binge drinking, or both. Logistic regression analysis was conducted on the association between excessive alcohol use and self-recognition. Results: In total, 2,842 students underwent health examinations, and 2,093 responded to the survey. There were184 (8.8%) excess weekly drinkers and 1,156 (55.2%) binge drinkers; of these, 150 (81.5%) excessive weekly drinkers and 1,032 (89.3%) binge drinkers misunderstood their drinking as normal. In the logistic regression analysis, male excessive weekly drinkers were significantly more likely to perceive that their drinking was not normal (odds ratio 2.68 [1.56-4.61]), but there was no difference in recognition between male and female binge drinkers, or in female excessive weekly drinkers.Conclusions: The majority of excessive alcohol use among college and graduate students involved binge drinking. Many excessive drinkers did not recognize their drinking as risky behavior. Effective alcohol education for college students in Japan is essential.