Aims: This study aimed to describe the prevalence and associations of hazardous drinking in a male industrial worker population in India.
Methods: A total of 984 subjects from a randomly selected sample of 1013 workers from four industries in Goa, India, were recruited. Interviews included the 10-item Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) as an indicator of hazardous drinking and the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ12) as a measure of common mental disorders (CMDs).
Results: The prevalence of hazardous drinking, defined as an AUDIT score of more than 8 was 21%. There was a significant association with CMD (OR 2, P = 0.003). Hazardous drinking was significantly associated with severe health problems, such as head injuries and hospitalization, whereas CMD was found to be a confounder in its association with adverse economic outcomes.
Conclusions: Hazardous drinking is common among male industrial workers in Goa. Interventions in the workplace must target both drinking problems and CMDs, since they often co-exist and are associated with different types of adverse outcomes.