Prevalence, correlates, comorbidity, and age of onset of alcohol use disorders in adult males from five provinces in China

Abstract

Background: This study integrates data from high-quality mental health surveys in five provinces in China to examine the prevalence, demographic correlates, age of onset, and comorbidity of alcohol use disorder (AUD).

Methods: The five cross-sectional surveys initially screened a representative sample of 74,752 community-living adults (94% response rate) from a sampling population including over 12% of China's adult population. Psychiatrists then administered a detailed diagnostic exam to an enriched sample of 21,015 respondents (95% response rate). The prevalence of AUD in females in China is below 0.5%, so we limited our analysis to 9619 males who completed the diagnostic interview.

Results: Using meta-analyses to summarize estimates across the five locations, the current (30-day) prevalence of AUD among adult Chinese males was 9.8% (95% CI=5.7-16.9%), but there was wide cross-province variation. After adjusting for age and other demographic variables, the prevalence of AUD was significantly lower in single men than in married men (OR=0.4, CI=0.2-0.7), lower in men who were not currently working than in men who were currently working (OR=0.7, CI=0.5-0.96), and lower in men with comorbid mental disorders than in men without comorbid mental disorders (OR=0.4, CI=0.2-0.8). The risk of developing AUD peaked at 30 years of age.

Conclusions: Substantial differences in the demographic correlates and age of onset of AUD in men in China compared to those reported in other countries highlight the importance of understanding the country-specific and region-specific profile of AUD before developing intervention and prevention strategies.

Keywords: Age of onset; Alcohol use disorders; China; Comorbid diagnoses; Demographic correlates; Epidemiological survey.