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Binging: a prevalence study in Belarusian universities

Background

The extent of binging (≥5 drinks/session) largely contributes to the burden associated with alcohol use in most countries [1–3]. Binging among undergraduate students in Belarus is a major public health problem, leading to violence, injury, unsafe sexual activities, as well as conduct problems. The high level of alcohol-related problems in this country is caused by combination of factors like high level of alcohol consumption per capita and hazardous drinking patterns. High level of alcoholism in the society calls for the necessity of carrying out preventive measures aimed at early diagnosis of alcohol related problems, with subsequent consultation and therapeutic intervention [2, 4]. In particular, this concerns the students' population, inasmuch as recent epidemiological data show high level of alcohol related problems among students [1–4]. This study was aimed at identifying the prevalence of binging and its associated harm among undergraduate students in Minsk, Belarus.

Materials and methods

Undergraduate students in the various institutions in Minsk, Belarus were explained the objectives of the study. One thousand six-hundred and fourteen (1614) reported for the study. Standardized AUDIT, including other questions was used as a measure.

Results

Altogether, 17% of bingers were identified. Approximately 97% higher cases of alcohol problems (injuries, alcohol dependence, and psychiatric anamneses) were associated with binging (p < 0.05). The major reason for binging was reported to be the sweet qualities of alcohol and drinking to get drunk (p < 0.05). Also, use of vodka and other spirits was significantly higher than beer and wine among bingers, compared to non-bingers.

Conclusions

The extent of binging and associated harm among undergraduate students in Minsk, Belarus is a cause for concern.

References

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Open Access This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Osain, M.W., Alekseevic, V.P. Binging: a prevalence study in Belarusian universities. Ann Gen Psychiatry 9 (Suppl 1), S233 (2010). https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1186/1744-859X-9-S1-S233

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  • DOI: https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1186/1744-859X-9-S1-S233

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