Abstract

Incidence and Risk of Alcohol Use Disorders by Age, Gender and Poverty Status: A Population-Based-10 Year Follow-Up Study

Author(s): Chun-Te Lee, Chiu-Yueh Hsiao, Yi-Chyan Chen, Oswald Ndi Nfor,Jing-Yang Huang, Lee Wang, Yung-Po Liaw

Abstract

Background: To investigate the association between low-income and alcohol use disorders (AUD) among
different age and gender groups.

Methods and Findings: Data were collected from the national health insurance research database. Participants were divided into 0-17, 18-44, 45-64, and ≥65 age groups. AUD was assessed based on the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM). Cox
proportional hazard regression analyses were made based on gender, age, and low-income. AUDs were more common in the 18-64 age categories of low-income individuals, that is, 2.32% in men aged 45-64 and 0.65% in women aged 18-44. The hazard ratios (HRs) and attributable risk percent (AR%) of AUD were higher in women than men except for the 0-17 age group. The HRs and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were 4.76 (2.34-9.67), 2.66 (2.14-3.30), 3.50 (2.50-4.90), 1.50 (0.55-4.06) in men, and 3.23 (1.35-7.69), 4.10 (2.95-5.70), 8.49 (4.08-17.69), and 17.18 (4.66-63.30) in women aged 0-17, 18-44, 45-64, and ≥65 years, respectively. The AR% was 79.0%, 62.3%, 71.5%, and 33.3% in men, and 69.5%, 75.6%, 88.2%, and 94.2% in women of ages 0-17,
18-44, 45-64, and ≥65, respectively.

Conclusions: Low-income was found to be a risk factor for alcohol use disorders in men and women. In general, the incidence rates were higher in men compared to women.