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Alcoholism by Chinese diagnostic interview schedule: A prevalence and validity study
Author(s) -
Hwu H.G.,
Yeh E.K.,
Yeh Y.L.,
Chang L.Y.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1988.tb05069.x
Subject(s) - alcohol abuse , etiology , alcohol dependence , psychiatry , chinese community , psychology , medicine , clinical psychology , metropolitan area , epidemiology , substance abuse , demography , alcohol , china , pathology , geography , biochemistry , chemistry , archaeology , sociology
— A community survey in metropolitan Taipei (MT) and two small towns (ST) by using the Chinese modified diagnostic interview schedule (DIS‐CM) revealed a significant difference in the prevalence of alcohol abuse (AA) defined by DSM‐III between two study samples (MT 3.4%; ST 8.0%), but the prevalence of alcohol dependence (AD) was not different (MT 1.5%; ST 1.8%). These figures are significantly higher than that of an earlier Formosan study. Demographic data, psychiatric symptoms, medical complications and impairment of social functions were adopted as the variables to validate the nosological status of AA and AD. The results of this study substantiated that AA and AD identified by the DISCM were nosologically different from a non‐alcoholic group. The possible reasons for an increasing prevalence of alcoholism in Taiwan Chinese were discussed. An etiological hypothesis was proposed for AA and AD on account of their differential prevalences.