Prevalence and predictors of alcohol use among adult females residing in a rural area of ranchi, jharkhand: a cross sectional study

Introduction: Alcoholic beverages have been a part of social life since ages in the western countries. While alcohol abuse is a problem universally it has not left India untouched. Not only men but also women have included alcohol as a part of their social habit. Aims and objectives: This study aims to find out the prevalence of alcohol use among women residing in rural field practice area of Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, Ranchi and to find out the factors leading to initiation and consumption of alcohol. Methodology: This was a cross sectional study done in rural field practice area, ormanjhi of RIMS, Ranchi for a duration of 28 months (from September 2016 to November 2018). The sample size came out to be 336. Templates for data entry were generated in Microsoft office Excel sheet and analysis was done using SPSS 20.0. Results: After analysis of 336 females, it was found that 188 out of 336 (55.95%) of the study subjects are above the age of 40 years, approximately half of them were Hindu (50.9%) and about 46.1% of the study subjects were illiterate. The prevalence of alcohol use among females was found to be 56 out of 336 (16.7%) and 48 out of 336 (14.3%) are current users of alcohol. Among alcoholics custom (39.29%) was the reason for initiation of alcohol, followed by amusement (25%). Total of 24 out of 56 (42.85%) alcoholic women said family member was the reason for their initiation of alcoholic drink. Addiction to alcohol consumption was strongly associated with age group of study subjects. Elderly women were more common consumers of alcohol. Conclusion: we conclude that about 14.3% of women are current consumers of alcohol.