ALCOHOL USE, ALCOHOL DISORDERS, AND THE USE OF HEALTH SERVICES: RESULTS FROM A POPULATION SURVEY^*

Abstract

Data from a population survey were used to explore relationships among drinking levels/patterns, alcohol dependence or abuse, and the use of emergency services, hospital admissions, and frequent visits to general practitioners in the past year. For both males and females, self-reported hospital admissions were less common among daily moderate drinkers than among lifetime abstainers. Among males, drinkers with no history of alcohol dependence or abuse were less likely to report being in hospital in the last year than lifetime abstainers. For females, some groups defined by drinking patterns/levels and current drinkers without symptoms of alcohol abuse or dependence were more likely to report using emergency services than lifetime abstainers.

• Alcohol and gender
• Alcohol and health
• Drinking survey
• Health service utilization

Notes

^*Diagnoses were social phobia, simple phobia, agoraphobia, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, dysthymia, major depression, manic depression, and bulimia.

^†Drugs of dependence or abuse were cannabis, opiates, sedatives, cocaine, amphetamines, hallucinogens, inhalants, and other.