Abstract

GAVIRIA-CRIOLLO, Camilo Andrés; MARTINEZ-PORRAS, Diego Alexander; ARBOLEDA-CASTILLO, Andrés Fernando  and  MAFLA, Ana Cristina. Alcohol consumption among college medical students in Pasto (Colombia). Salud, Barranquilla [online]. 2015, vol.31, n.3, pp.458-466. ISSN 0120-5552.  https://doi.org/10.14482/sun.31.3.5800.

Objective: To evaluate the reliability of the Spanish version of the AUDIT and assess the rate of problematic alcohol consumers and associated risk factors among medical students in Pasto (Colombia). Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in a random sample of 340 medical school students. All subjects were interviewed by two trained researchers. According to socio-demographic characteristics, variables such as age, sex, residence, socioeconomic status (SES), marital status, and study year were included. The 10-item Alcohol Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) was used for assessing alcohol consumption. The inter-item correlations and Cronbach's α coefficient were calculated as measures of the internal consistency of the AUDIT. Results: Factor analysis for the AUDIT items supported a single factor solution, with an eigenvalue of 4.8. Using a cut-off score of 8 for the AUDIT analysis indicated 39.1 % had problematic drinking (52.4 % men and 28.2 % women). There were significant statistical differences according to socio-demographics variables such as age, sex and study year. Conclusion: The AUDIT principal component analysis resulted in a single-factor solution. The estimated occurrence of problematic drinking was high in these medical students. In terms of risk factors, variables such as age, sex and study year were related to higher scores. Preventive programs are needed to educate students about the risks associated to alcohol use.

Keywords : cross-sectional studies; alcohol drinking; medical students; severity of illness index; reproducibility of results; risk factors.

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