Abstract

OBJECTIVE
Studies have suggested that beer is associated with a high risk of mortality and morbidity. The purpose of this study was to investigate how types of alcoholic beverage are related to high risk acute harm. METHODS: Data from the 1997 Korea's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey, collected through telephone questionings, were analyzed based on multi-stage stratified random sampling (N=1, 045). Among those who had drunk at least one type of alcoholic beverage in the last month, one episode where the drinker had consumed the highest level of ethanol was selected, and the alcohol consumption per drinking day categorized into four risk levels of short-term, 'acute' harm, according to the WHO guidelines. Employing ordered logistic regression analyses, as the explanatory variables, types of alcoholic beverage, with and without socioeconomic characteristics, were considered. RESULTS: Spirits and soju were more than ten and three times, respectively, more likely than beer, while makkolli and wine were almost as likely as beer, to involve high risk drinking, irrespective of controlling for the socioeconomic characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: Unlike most Western countries, in Korea, beer, rather than spirits or soju, is generally less likely to be associated with high risk drinking for acute harm. The influence of beverage types on high risk drinking for acute harm appears to vary between countries.

• Keywords: AlcoholsAlcoholic beveragesAlcohol abuseKorea