Alcohol Drinking Among Students of the University of Ljubljana

Abstract Background. Hazardous and harmful alcohol drinking is an important health, social and economic issue in Slovenia, also amongst adolescents and young adults. While drinking in Slovenia has been well researched amongst elementary and high school students, there exists a lack of research on drinking amongst young adults attending university. Methods. Cross sectional study. First year students of the University of Ljubljana attending the mandatory preventive health check between October 2009 and May 2010 filled out a non-anonymous lifestyle questionnaire. AUDIT-C screening questionnaire on alcohol use and questions on smoking and illicit drug use were also included. Multivariate and multilevel methods were used to analyse the data. Results. 7221 students filled out the questionnaire, of those 38.5 % male and 61.5 % female. 87.3 % of students have drunk alcohol at some point in the last year. Amongst the students, 23.1 % were hazardous or harmful drinkers. 61.4 % of students have been drunk at least once in the last year. 11.8 % of the students were abstainers. Male students, smokers and students with drug experience have higher odds of being harmful or hazardous drinkers. Student level variables account for most of the variability in harmful and hazardous drinking; only 2 % of the variability was due to differences across universities. Conclusions. Students of the University of Ljubljana drank alcohol in large quantities. There was a marked link between hazardous drinking, smoking and drug use. Results of this study show the need for the formation of suitable preventive measures that would change drinking behaviour amongst the student population. Izvleček Izhodišča. Tvegano in škodljivo pitje alkohola v Sloveniji predstavlja velik zdravstveni, socialni in ekonomski problem, tudi med mladimi. V Sloveniji obstajajo temeljite raziskave o pitju alkohola med osnovnošolci in srednješolci, medtem ko so podatki o pitju alkohola med študenti pomanjkljivi. Metode. Presečna študija. Študentje prvih letnikov rednega študija Univerze v Ljubljani, ki so prišli na obvezni redni preventivni zdravstveni pregled med oktobrom 2009 in majem 2010, so izpolnili neanonimni vprašalnik o življenjskem slogu. Ta je vseboval tudi standardizirani vprašalnik o pitju alkohola AUDIT-C ter vprašanji o kajenju in izkušnjah z drogo. Podatki so bili analizirani z multivariatnimi in večnivojskimi metodami. Rezultati. Vprašalnik je izpolnilo 7.221 študentov, 38,5 % moških in 61,5 % žensk. V zadnjem letu je alkohol pilo 87,3 % študentov. Tvegano ali škodljivo pije 23,1 % študentov. V zadnjem letu se je vsaj enkrat opilo 61,4 % študentov. Abstinentov je 11,8 %. Večji obet za tvegano in škodljivo pitje imajo študenti moškega spola, kadilci in študenti z izkušnjami z drogo. Večino variance v tveganem in škodljivem pitju alkohola pojasnimo z dejavniki na ravni študentov, razlike med fakultetami pa pojasnijo samo 2 % skupne variance. Sklepi. Študentje Univerze v Ljubljani alkohol pijejo prekomerno. Med kajenjem, izkušnjami z drogo in tveganim ali škodljivim pitjem je jasna povezava. Rezultati raziskave kažejo na potrebo po pripravi ustreznega preventivnega programa, s katerim bi zmanjšali porabo alkohola med študenti