Alcohol use disorders and associated factors among adults in rural communities in Enugu State, Nigeria: A cross-sectional survey

Abstract

Evidence has shown increasing rate of alcohol abuse among rural dwellers. At the same time little is known about the association between alcohol use disorders (AUD) and factors peculiar to this group of people. A cross-sectional study design was adopted to determine the prevalence of AUD and associated factors among adults in rural communities in Enugu State, Nigeria. Multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select 2,996 respondents from six rural communities in Enugu State. Respondents’ demographic, socioeconomic and clinical characteristics were documented. Data on alcohol use disorders were collected using the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT). AUDIT cutoff score of ≥ 8 signified presence of AUD. Logistic regression was used to determine the factors associated with the outcome variable, AUD calculating the crude and adjusted odds ratios and their respective confidence intervals (95% CI). The prevalence rates of alcohol use and AUD were 79.7% and 48.1%, respectively. The factors most strongly associated with AUD were eating once per day (OR= 8.59, 95% CI = 4.24–17.40), male gender (OR= 7.50, 95% CI = 6.30–8.93), being an artisan (OR= 5.92, 95% CI = 3.33–10.05), poor knowledge of health effects of alcohol abuse (OR= 4.26, 95% CI = 3.46–5.24), smoking (OR= 4.21, 95% CI = 3.24–5.47), low educational attainment and early age of alcohol initiation. Practicing Christianity, Islamic religion, being single and suffering from diabetes were some of the negative predictors of AUD. Multi-level interventions that encompass the associated factors are recommended to curtail harmful alcohol use in the rural communities.

Keywords:

• Alcohol consumption
• AUDIT
• rural dwellers
• Nigeria

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the assistance we received from the research assistants in data collection. We are also grateful to the respondents who patiently completed the questionnaires and the community leaders who gave approval for the study.

Declaration of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.