Alcohol Use in Community-dwelling Persons with Spinal Cord Injury

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the patterns of alcohol use among community-dwelling persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) and compare the results with those from general populations. METHOD: The persons with SCI living in community were recruited. They answered the self-administered questionnaire which was made based on the questionnaire of the third Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for data comparisons. The questionnaire consisted of the questions about personal information, drinking duration, drinking frequency, drinking amount, and impaired control over drinking. RESULTS: Questionnaires of 340 persons with SCI from twenties to fifties were analysed. The annual and monthly drinking rates of SCI subjects were lower than those of general populations. In male, drinking frequency of SCI subjects was lower than that of general populations. In both male and female, risky drinking rates were lower than those of general populations. The degree of impaired control over drinking of SCI subjects was higher than that of general populations. CONCLUSION: Fewer persons with SCI used alcohol than general populations. But, the degree of alcohol dependence of SCI persons was higher than that of general populations.