Hazardous alcohol use: A cross-sectional study of cardiology patients in Sweden

Abstract

Background Alcohol use is understudied in cardiology settings. We investigated the prevalence of hazardous alcohol use and probable dependence among cardiology patients. Methods Cross-sectional study in three regions of Sweden. Alcohol use was assessed using the AUDIT-10 questionnaire. We defined hazardous alcohol use as: AUDIT-10 ≥ 6 for women or ≥ 8 for men (primary definition) and probable dependence as AUDIT-10 ≥ 13 for women or ≥ 15 for men. We examined associations using logistic regression. Results We included 1107 participants (median age = 73 years; range = 18-102; 66% men). The prevalence of hazardous alcohol use was 7.8% (95%CI = 6.2-9.3, primary definition) and 0.9% (95%CI = 0.3-1.5) had probable alcohol dependence. We found increased odds of hazardous alcohol use in: age groups 18-39 years (OR = 4.90, 95%CI = 1.41-17.08) and 40-64 years (OR = 4.02, 95%CI = 1.69-9.67) compared to ≥80 years; a city compared to a small town (OR = 2.44, 95%CI = 1.02-5.84); participants with unhealthy diets (OR = 2.37, 95%CI = 1.36-4.13), and overweight participants (OR = 2.25, 95%CI = 1.23-4.12). Conclusions Hazardous alcohol use affected about one in 12 cardiology patients. However, less than 1 in 100 had probable alcohol dependence. Findings suggest that many cardiology patients with hazardous alcohol use are appropriate for brief interventions, and may not require more intensive alcohol dependence treatments.