Open AccessPrevalence of alcohol use disorders among under- and post-graduate healthcare students in Italy
Author(s) -
Monica Lamberti,
Francesco Napolitano,
Paola Napolitano,
Antonio Arnese,
Vincenzo Crispino,
Gianclaudio Panariello,
Gabriella Di Giuseppe
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0175719
Subject(s) - medicine , psychological intervention , family medicine , cross sectional study , audit , health care , body mass index , ambulatory , alcohol consumption , logistic regression , occupational safety and health , alcohol , psychiatry , management , pathology , economics , economic growth , biochemistry , chemistry
A cross-sectional study was carried out on 641 medical students, 359 students attending a degree course in the healthcare professions, and 500 resident physicians, all undergoing health surveillance at the ambulatory of the Division of Occupational Medicine, Second University of Naples, Italy. 76.1% of the participants drank alcohol, with 85.5% of medical students, 77.4% of resident physicians, and 63% of healthcare-professions students reporting regular alcohol use. In the whole sample, the mean Audit-C score was 1.6 for men and 1.1 for women; only 5.5% of men and 7.1% of women had a hazardous alcohol consumption with an Audit-C score of respectively ≥4 and ≥3. Multivariate regression modeling revealed that regular alcohol use was more likely in individuals who were men, were younger, had a lower body-mass index, were active smokers, were habitual coffee drinkers, and who were resident physicians or medical students rather than healthcare-professions students. This finding identifies a need to assess alcohol use in medical-profession workers in order to identify risky behavior early on and to carry out rapidly effective preventive and curative interventions.