%0 Journal Article
%T Alcohol abstinence and drinking among African women: data from the World Health Surveys
%A Priscilla Martinez
%A Jo R£¿islien
%A Nirmala Naidoo
%A Thomas Clausen
%J BMC Public Health
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2458-11-160
%X Data were collected as part of the WHO World Health Survey using standardized questionnaires. In total, 40,739 adult women were included in the present study. Alcohol measures included lifetime abstinence, current use (¡İ1 drink in previous week), heavy drinking (15+ drinks in the previous week) and risky single-occasion drinking (5+ drinks on at least one day in the previous week). Country-specific descriptives of alcohol use were calculated, and K-means clustering was performed to identify countries with similar characteristics. Multiple logistic regression models were fitted for each country to identify factors associated with drinking status.A total of 33,841 (81%) African women reported lifetime abstinence. Current use ranged from 1% in Malawi to 30% in Burkina Faso. Among current drinkers, heavy drinking varied between 4% in Ghana to 41% in Chad, and risky single-occasion drinking ranged from <1% in Mauritius to 58% in Chad. Increasing age was associated with increased odds of being a current drinker in about half of the countries.A variety of drinking patterns are present among African women with lifetime abstention the most common. Countries with hazardous consumption patterns require serious attention to mitigate alcohol-related harm. Some similarities in factors related to alcohol use can be identified between different African countries, although these are limited and highlight the contextual diversity of female drinking in Africa.Alcohol use is an important factor in any woman's health risk profile. Harmful patterns of alcohol consumption are strongly associated with increased morbidity and mortality [1]. Alcohol related morbidities include mental health disorders such as substance dependence and depression, and physical morbidities such as breast cancer, and HIV infection [2-5]. Women also experience unique negative social consequences of alcohol use that impact health, from increased risk of domestic violence and stigma [6,7]. The negative health and so
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/11/160