Gemeinschaftsmedizin und Gesundheitserziehung

Abstrakt

Is Spiritual Background Related to Indulgence into Alcohol Use: A Cross- Sectional Study in an Urban Slum of Meerut?

Rashmi Katya, Rahul Bansal, Kapil Goe and Sachin Sharma

Background: The word alcohol is derived from the Arabian term ‘al-kuhul’ which means ‘finely divided spirit’.Alcohol abuse is world-wide social and medical problem. Over the past 30 to 40 years, alcohol consumption hasincreased in quantity and frequency. The age at which people start drinking has also declined. The population groupsat great risk are those undergoing rapid socio-economic and cultural changes; they view alcohol as a symbol ofprestige and social status.
Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted in the catchment area of U.H.T.C. (Urbanhealth and training centre) using AUDIT questionnaire. The required sample size was obtained through simplerandom sampling. Data was analyzed by using appropriate statistical tests by SPSS 19.0 version and the results wereexpressed in proportions. Chi-square test was used and if the cell frequency was less than 5, the result was obtainedby Fischer Exact test.
Results: The spiritual background has been found to have no significant association with alcohol use. Similarly,the size and type of family has no relationship with alcohol use.
Conclusions: It can be very well concluded that spiritual background may not influence the intake of alcohol but still conclusion can only be drawn if more such researches are done in future.