PROBLEM DRINKING IN NORTHERN-IRELAND - RESULTS OF A COMMUNITY SURVEY USING THE CAGE QUESTIONNAIRE

A random sample of over 700 adults resident in Northern Ireland answer ed a questionnaire about their drinking practices. Approximately one-q uarter of the men and almost 40% of the women described themselves as non-drinkers. Logistic regression analyses identified religious denomi nation, marital status, and age as the most important predictors of dr inking. Of the drinkers 15.8% of the men and 5.7% of the women obtaine d a CAGE score of 3 or 4. Further logistic regression analyses identif ied gender, marital status, and religious denomination as the most imp ortant predictors of problem drinking.