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Abstract
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Background and purpose: Alcohol consumption is a global health problem and one of the biggest risk factors for a variety of physical and mental disorders. Alcohol binge drinking (BD) significantly increases the risk of injury and suicide. The study aimed to investigate the prevalence of BD and its association with suicidality, psychological distress, and help-seeking among community residents in Taiwan.
METHODS: The cross-sectional nationwide survey was conducted via computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) system on the general population aged over 15 using the stratified proportional randomization method. We used standardized measures to collect information including socio-demographic variables, regular drinking habits, binge drinking, self-rated physical and mental health, health self-efficacy, suicidality, and psychological distress.
RESULTS: In total, 2,126 participants were recruited for the study. The weighted prevalence of BD was 5.3%. The BD was significantly associated with the following demographics: male gender (7.9%), aged 25-44 (6.0%) and 45-64 (6.5%), divorce (15.5%), senior high school (8.4%) and college (6.8%). Compared to the non-BD, the BD individuals presented a significantly higher rate of psychiatric morbidities (10.8%), insomnia (40.2%), hostility (34.2%), anxiety (23.2%), lifetime and past-year suicidal ideation (18.8% and 7.1%, respectively), lifetime suicide attempts (5.4%), and lack of trustworthy person to talk to (22.5%). The stepwise logistic regression indicated that lifetime suicide attempts (OR = 3.12), hostility (OR = 1.83), insomnia (OR = 1.82), and self-rated mental health (OR=0.75) were significantly associated with BD after adjusting for gender and age.
CONCLUSION: The study revealed the prevalence of BD and associated risks. Particularly, the BD individuals presented a significantly higher prevalence of mental distress and suicidality than the non-BD. In suicide prevention, regular alcohol drinkers should be assessed for BD.
Language: zh |