40% Nigerians involved in harmful alcohol use —Study

There is a rapid shift in the social context of drinking, with almost four in every 10 Nigerians (39.5%) now getting involved in harmful or hazardous alcohol use, a study has said.

In a new study, researchers put the prevalence of harmful or hazardous alcohol use and possible dependence otherwise described as likely Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) at 44%, which is 13 folds higher than the World Health Organisation (WHO) report for Africa.

They found that likely Alcohol Use Disorder was also higher in men, among the Christians, among the employed, among smokers and higher in the rural setting.

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Although the general notion is that problematic drinking is more prevalent in unemployed people, the result was contrary to this, suggesting that employment status was a function of economic strength to purchase alcohol.

The researcher, who said that AUD was almost confined to men, reason that this may in part reflect the observation that women tend to become easily intoxicated compared to men given the same equivalent dose of alcohol.

Consistent with abundant research findings was the observed association between smoking and a likely AUD. The co-use of alcohol and tobacco is very common.

In a community sample of 1119 patrons of open drinking places drawn from 22 open drinking places spanning the 11 local governments in Ibadan, the researchers found 995 out of 1119 (88.9%) recruited individuals were current drinkers. They were aged 25 to 64 years cutting across different ethnic groups.

The 2018 study published in the BMC Public Health involved Dr Victor O. Lasebikan at the College of Medicine (UCH), University of Ibadan in collaboration with Drs Olatunde Ayinde; Mayokun Odunleye; Babajide Adeyefa; Samson Adepoju and Shina Fakunle from UCH, Ibadan.

The relatively high prevalence of a likely AUD in this study, they said could be because open-space drinking attracts people with similar specific characteristics to create unique niches for drinking. Also, drinking contexts play a role in the cause of alcohol use and related problems.

While about one in every 10 respondents (11.1%) was an abstainer although they patronise open drinking places, they said due to peer effects, they could transit to users.

They declared that a significantly high proportion of social drinkers in open places are problem drinkers who require intervention. According to them, “attention should be given to this population as they constitute the economically viable and productive segment of the society, yet they have little alcohol and substance-related health education.

“Our study has policy implication regarding outdoor-open space drinking that is the common drinking trend in Nigeria. Patrons require health-educational awareness programmes on the harmful effects of excessive drinking.”

In Nigeria, the majority of data from epidemiological surveys on alcohol consumption had been drawn from households’ surveys, treatment facilities, street children prison population, commercial drivers, adolescents, and the elderly.