Abstract

Alcohol use disorders among adults at primary care, South-West Ethiopia

Alemayehu Negash* and Mekdes Demissie

Background: There has been a growing concern about dangerous consequences related to Alcohol and other addictive drugs use globally and in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) in particular. In Ethiopia, there is a paucity of information on AUDs from Primary Health Care (PHC).

Objective: His study aimed to estimate the prevalence of AUDs among adult attendees at PHC Clinics to stimulate prevention and intervention programs.

Methods: We conducted this study at three PHC clinics in Jimma town. We used a WHO Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) for screening. We screened 422 adults aged 18+. We, Logistic regression model, to find independently associated covariates.

Results: The prevalence of AUDs was 41% (n=173). On the AUDIT scale, 27.5% drunk hazardously, 8.3% used despite use is harmful and 5.2% dependent. Being male, Income, Social anxiety, frequency of visit to worship places, alcohol availability use of other addictive drugs with alcohol had an independent association with AUDs.

Conclusion: We found high AUDs prevalence among PHC attendees in the studied sample. This is indicative of the low attention given to these disorders and the resultant significant implication for integration to and the need for scaling up of services for AUDs and SUDs at PHC.

Published Date: 2021-09-20; Received Date: 2021-08-30