ALCOHOL-CONSUMPTION IN A RURAL AREA OF CANTABRIA

A two-stage cross-sectional survey was performed in a representative r ural sample of the autonomous community of Cantabria, to investigate t he social, medical and psychopathological factors associated with alco hol consumption. Alcohol consumption was investigated by means of a sp ecific questionnaire. Mental and physical health was evaluated in the first-stage sample using: (1) the General Health Questionnaire, (2) th e Cornell Medical Index. In the second stage all members of the sample were interviewed at home using the 140-item version of the Present St ate Examination (PSE-9). We found that 25.4% of males and 0.6% of fema les were consuming more than 63 alcohol units per week. Alcohol consum ption was significantly associated with different social variables. Al though it was possible to detect an increase in weekend drinking, espe cially in the heavy alcohol users, daily alcohol consumption, mainly a round meals, was the predominant drinking pattern. We also found a sig nificant inverse association between excessive alcohol consumption and the presence of physical or mental illness. Excessive alcohol use ten ded to be associated in males with depression and in females, with anx iety.