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Prevalence and Pattern of Alcohol Use among Government Officers in Urban Sri Lanka

Received: 2 December 2016     Accepted: 21 December 2016     Published: 16 January 2017
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Abstract

Non Communicable diseases (NCD) are the leading cause of death globally, of which 80% of deaths occur in low and middle income countries. In Sri Lankan context, the Non-Communicable Diseases accounted for approximately 70% of total deaths. Around 20,000 Sri Lankans die annually due to various health complications caused by the use of tobacco while another 500,000 fall sick. Approximately another 20,000 Sri Lankans die annually due to alcohol consumption. Various experimental, analytical and descriptive studies have been conducted on alcohol use. But, limited studies can be identified among certain community groups. Based on this background, this survey was conducted to determine the prevailing alcohol use among government officers in Urban Sri Lanka. Study design was a descriptive cross sectional study and study was conducted in a government office complex called Sethsiripaya in Colombo district. Study population was government officers. The participants were selected based on convenience sampling method and sample size was 442 respondents including 240 females and 202 males. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data and data analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. The study found that current prevalence of alcohol consumption was 46.6% of males and 1.2% females. Among the study participants 74.8% males and 5.8% females have consumed alcohol at least once in their life time. Most of the male participants have started their alcohol use between the ages of 17-19 years. A recall of alcohol consumption for the last two months revealed that 26.6% male had used over two glasses, 22.4% between 1-2 glasses and 17% less than ¼ glass per day. Also 44.7% participants had consumed alcohol every 1-2 days during the last month. Only a very few females (n=3) reported that they consumed alcohol during the last month. The most consumed alcohol type was arrack (27.7%). Also 36.9% male users consumed different types of alcohol while 17% of males had beer. Importantly, the study also revealed that 43.3% participants were attempting to quit. The study conclude that preventive activities focusing on this group should be implemented. At the same time non-drinkers must be routinely addressed to sustain their status.

Published in International Journal of Health Economics and Policy (Volume 1, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.hep.20160101.16
Page(s) 37-40
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2017. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Alcohol, Government Officers, Urban Survey

References
[1] World Health Organization, Global Information System on Alcohol and Health http://www.who.int/gho/alcohol/en/ (accessed 19 August 2016).
[2] WHO. Global Status Alcohol Report. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2014.
[3] Somathunga L. et al, National alcohol use prevalence survey in Sri Lanka, Journal of the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine; (2014), 1 (1): E7: 1-12, DOI: http://dx.doi.org//jpgim.7858.
[4] World Bank, Prevention and control of selected chronic NCD in Sri Lanka, USA, Washington. 2010.
[5] World Health Organization Alcohol consumption: levels and patterns, www.who.int/substance_abuse/publications/global_alcohol.../lka.pdf (accessed 25 August 2015).
[6] Department of Census and Statics, House hold income and expenditure survey 2019-2010, Colombo, Sri Lanka. 2010.
[7] Directorate of Non Communicable Diseases. National risk factor survey. Colombo (Sri Lanka): Ministry of Health (Sri Lanka); 2008.
[8] Parliament of the democratic socialist republic of Sri Lanka, National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol Act, No. 27 (NATA) of 2006, Department of government printing, Colombo, Sri Lanka; 2006.
[9] WHO, WHO STEPS Surveillance Manual: The WHO STEP wise approach to chronic disease risk factor surveillance. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2005.
[10] Alcohol and Drug Information Centre, Trend Survey 2015 fact sheet, Alcohol and Drug Information Centre, Colombo, Sri Lanka; 2015.
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  • APA Style

    Prabhath Pallewaththa, Geethani Niwarthana, Prakash Thambiliyagodage, Turlin Abenayaka, Palitha Abeykoon. (2017). Prevalence and Pattern of Alcohol Use among Government Officers in Urban Sri Lanka. International Journal of Health Economics and Policy, 1(1), 37-40. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hep.20160101.16

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    ACS Style

    Prabhath Pallewaththa; Geethani Niwarthana; Prakash Thambiliyagodage; Turlin Abenayaka; Palitha Abeykoon. Prevalence and Pattern of Alcohol Use among Government Officers in Urban Sri Lanka. Int. J. Health Econ. Policy 2017, 1(1), 37-40. doi: 10.11648/j.hep.20160101.16

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    AMA Style

    Prabhath Pallewaththa, Geethani Niwarthana, Prakash Thambiliyagodage, Turlin Abenayaka, Palitha Abeykoon. Prevalence and Pattern of Alcohol Use among Government Officers in Urban Sri Lanka. Int J Health Econ Policy. 2017;1(1):37-40. doi: 10.11648/j.hep.20160101.16

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  • @article{10.11648/j.hep.20160101.16,
      author = {Prabhath Pallewaththa and Geethani Niwarthana and Prakash Thambiliyagodage and Turlin Abenayaka and Palitha Abeykoon},
      title = {Prevalence and Pattern of Alcohol Use among Government Officers in Urban Sri Lanka},
      journal = {International Journal of Health Economics and Policy},
      volume = {1},
      number = {1},
      pages = {37-40},
      doi = {10.11648/j.hep.20160101.16},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hep.20160101.16},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hep.20160101.16},
      abstract = {Non Communicable diseases (NCD) are the leading cause of death globally, of which 80% of deaths occur in low and middle income countries. In Sri Lankan context, the Non-Communicable Diseases accounted for approximately 70% of total deaths. Around 20,000 Sri Lankans die annually due to various health complications caused by the use of tobacco while another 500,000 fall sick. Approximately another 20,000 Sri Lankans die annually due to alcohol consumption. Various experimental, analytical and descriptive studies have been conducted on alcohol use. But, limited studies can be identified among certain community groups. Based on this background, this survey was conducted to determine the prevailing alcohol use among government officers in Urban Sri Lanka. Study design was a descriptive cross sectional study and study was conducted in a government office complex called Sethsiripaya in Colombo district. Study population was government officers. The participants were selected based on convenience sampling method and sample size was 442 respondents including 240 females and 202 males. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data and data analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. The study found that current prevalence of alcohol consumption was 46.6% of males and 1.2% females. Among the study participants 74.8% males and 5.8% females have consumed alcohol at least once in their life time. Most of the male participants have started their alcohol use between the ages of 17-19 years. A recall of alcohol consumption for the last two months revealed that 26.6% male had used over two glasses, 22.4% between 1-2 glasses and 17% less than ¼ glass per day. Also 44.7% participants had consumed alcohol every 1-2 days during the last month. Only a very few females (n=3) reported that they consumed alcohol during the last month. The most consumed alcohol type was arrack (27.7%). Also 36.9% male users consumed different types of alcohol while 17% of males had beer. Importantly, the study also revealed that 43.3% participants were attempting to quit. The study conclude that preventive activities focusing on this group should be implemented. At the same time non-drinkers must be routinely addressed to sustain their status.},
     year = {2017}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Prevalence and Pattern of Alcohol Use among Government Officers in Urban Sri Lanka
    AU  - Prabhath Pallewaththa
    AU  - Geethani Niwarthana
    AU  - Prakash Thambiliyagodage
    AU  - Turlin Abenayaka
    AU  - Palitha Abeykoon
    Y1  - 2017/01/16
    PY  - 2017
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hep.20160101.16
    DO  - 10.11648/j.hep.20160101.16
    T2  - International Journal of Health Economics and Policy
    JF  - International Journal of Health Economics and Policy
    JO  - International Journal of Health Economics and Policy
    SP  - 37
    EP  - 40
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2578-9309
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hep.20160101.16
    AB  - Non Communicable diseases (NCD) are the leading cause of death globally, of which 80% of deaths occur in low and middle income countries. In Sri Lankan context, the Non-Communicable Diseases accounted for approximately 70% of total deaths. Around 20,000 Sri Lankans die annually due to various health complications caused by the use of tobacco while another 500,000 fall sick. Approximately another 20,000 Sri Lankans die annually due to alcohol consumption. Various experimental, analytical and descriptive studies have been conducted on alcohol use. But, limited studies can be identified among certain community groups. Based on this background, this survey was conducted to determine the prevailing alcohol use among government officers in Urban Sri Lanka. Study design was a descriptive cross sectional study and study was conducted in a government office complex called Sethsiripaya in Colombo district. Study population was government officers. The participants were selected based on convenience sampling method and sample size was 442 respondents including 240 females and 202 males. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data and data analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. The study found that current prevalence of alcohol consumption was 46.6% of males and 1.2% females. Among the study participants 74.8% males and 5.8% females have consumed alcohol at least once in their life time. Most of the male participants have started their alcohol use between the ages of 17-19 years. A recall of alcohol consumption for the last two months revealed that 26.6% male had used over two glasses, 22.4% between 1-2 glasses and 17% less than ¼ glass per day. Also 44.7% participants had consumed alcohol every 1-2 days during the last month. Only a very few females (n=3) reported that they consumed alcohol during the last month. The most consumed alcohol type was arrack (27.7%). Also 36.9% male users consumed different types of alcohol while 17% of males had beer. Importantly, the study also revealed that 43.3% participants were attempting to quit. The study conclude that preventive activities focusing on this group should be implemented. At the same time non-drinkers must be routinely addressed to sustain their status.
    VL  - 1
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

  • National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol, Battaramulla, Sri Lanka

  • Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine, Colombo, Sri Lanka

  • National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol, Battaramulla, Sri Lanka

  • National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol, Battaramulla, Sri Lanka

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