 |
Strong efforts have been made in Denamrk to influence knowledge
of the upper threshold for hazardous drinking with a campaign
that has been repeated annually in week 40 from 1990-2000,with
information on sensible drinking limits of 21 drinks/week for
men and 14 drinks/week for women. The campaigns did not influence
overall drinking levels in Denmark, which remained stable in the
1980’s and 1990’s. The aim of this study by Martin Gronbaek et
al was to evaluate the effect of this ongoing campaign on the
level of knowledge of sensible drinking limits for men and women.
In the period 1994-2000 immediately before and after the 40 week
campaign and in February in the years 1994-1999, random representative
samples of Danes were interviewed by telephone annually. The survey
included questions on age, education, alcohol use, knowledge of
sensible drinking limits for the respondent’s sex, whether the
respondent drank below or in excess of these limits. Subjects
were interviewed randomly over all 7 days of the week. Only data
from the February surveys were used for analysis as these were
most likely to reflect other than acute effects of the campaign.
In the period 1994-1999 (1005-1063 subject per year) a total of
6234 men and women were interviewed, the mean response being 56%.
Over the period 1994-1999, the level of knowledge of sensible
drinking limits increased in all subsets of respondents. At the
end of the study period 1999, 80% of highly educated men aged
18-25 knew the sensible drinking limits for men but only 35% of
men over 65 with poor educational knowledge knew the limits. For
women the education-related proportions were similar. Those that
scored highest in the knowledge of drinking limits were subjects
admitting an alcohol use in excess of the recommendations. The
results show that public health campaigns aimed at reducing hazardous
drinking, certainly have an impact on awareness in the general
population, with people drinking in excess of the recommendations
also being reached by these campaigns.
Source.Gronbaek M, Stroger U, Strange H,Moller L, Graff V, Iversen
L. Impact of a 10-year nation-wide alcohol campaign on knowledge
of sensible drinking limits in Denmark. Eur J Epidemiol 17 (2001) 423-427. |
