Prevalence and determinants of alcohol consumption among adult men in a coastal area of South India

Abstract Introduction Alcohol is the common name given to organic compounds having hydroxyl group linked to a carbon atom. In everyday life, alcohol refers to any beverage containing ethanol or ethyl alcohol. It is available in many forms with beer being the third most popular drink throughout the world next to water and tea. A WHO report [1] states that worldwide per capita con-sumption of alcoholic beverages in 2010 was equal to 6.2 liters of pure alcohol consumed by every person aged 15 years or older. Approximately 2.3 million people die each year from the harmful use of alcohol, accounting for approximately 3.8% of all deaths worldwide. More than half of these deaths occur from noncommunicable diseases including cancers, cardiovascular disease, and liver cirrhosis. Although adult per capita consumption is highest in high-income countries, it is nearly as high in the upper-middle-income countries. An estimated 4.5% of the global burden of disease—as meas-ured in disability-adjusted life years—is caused by harmful use of alcohol.