International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health | July 2018 | Vol 5 | Issue 7 Page 2935 International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health Verenkar YJ et al. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2018 Jul;5(7):2935-2938 http://www.ijcmph.com pISSN 2394-6032 | eISSN 2394-6040 Original Research Article Prevalence and pattern of alcohol consumption using alcohol use disorder identification test among students at a medical college in Goa, India Yash Jairam Verenkar 1 , Frederick Satiro Vaz 2 * INTRODUCTION Alcohol use is a complex health and social issue, especially in developing countries like India and in particular the western Indian state of Goa. The misuse of alcohol represents one of the leading causes of preventable death, illness and injury in many societies throughout the world. A recent study highlighted that in India, health loss from alcohol will grow larger, unless effective interventions and policies are implemented to reduce these habits. 1 The adolescent age group being a vulnerable group wherein because of varied reasons young adolescents venture into unforeseen addictions and habits which are responsible for multitude of problems in their lives. Children and adolescents are usually more vulnerable to alcohol-related harm from a same volume of alcohol compared to other age group individuals. 2 Also, early initiation of alcohol use (prior to 14 years of age) has ABSTRACT Background: Alcohol use is a complex health and social issue, especially in developing countries like India and in particular the western Indian state of Goa moreover, adolescents are usually more vulnerable to alcohol-related harm from a same volume of alcohol compared to other age group individuals. Methods: A cross-sectional design was conducted over a period of two months in Goa medical college, Goa. Students pursuing the MBBS Course in all semesters for the academic year 2015-16 were the study partici pants. Data was collected by interviewing the students. The pre-tested structured questionnaire used to collect the data. Alcohol consumption pattern was assessed using alcohol use disorder identification test (AUDIT). Approval was obtained from the Institutional Ethics Committee of the Medical College. Informed written consent was obtained from the participant prior to the interview. SPSS Software Package was used for statistical analysis. Results: Prevalence of alcohol consumption was found to be 39.4%. Prevalence among females was higher (40.6%) compared to Males (38%). Among the alcohol consumers 82.3% were light drinkers (AUDIT <8) while 17.7% were identified as heavy drinkers. Hazardous alcohol consumption was identified in 46.7% of alcohol consumers. 20.9% of alcohol consumers showed signs of alcohol dependence. Conclusions: Awareness of ill effects of alcohol consumption, counselling to deal with stress related to studies, negotiating peer pressure etc. need to be the possible solutions to address this health and social issue of alcohol use among young adults. Keywords: Alcohol, Pattern, Prevalence, AUDIT 1 Goa Medical College, Bambolim, Goa, India 2 Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Goa Medical College, Bambolim, Goa, India Received: 05 April 2018 Revised: 10 May 2018 Accepted: 15 May 2018 *Correspondence: Dr. Frederick Satiro Vaz, E-mail: frederickvaz@rediffmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20182626