OBJECTIVES: To investigate the prevalence of hazardous and harmful alcohol use, which are a subthreshold of alcohol related disorders. METHODS: Direct-interview questionnaires to 1,183 rural persons (489 male, 694 female) were conducted in Chungju-city from July 2 to 26, 1998. As a screening instrument, the alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT) was used. RESULTS: The prevalence of alcohol use was 41.7%. In males, it was 66.3% and in females, it was 24.4%. The mean of the AUDIT score of males and females was 13.2 and 5.6, respectively. As WHO guideline, the prevalence of hazardous alcohol use in males and females was 80.3% and 20.7%, respectively. This suggests that the prevalence of 'hazardous drinking' and 'harmful drinking' was 45.4% and 29.3% for males and 1.2% and 2.4% for females, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study presented the prevalence of hazardous and harmful drinking of a rural population in Korea and reviewed those health problems. Further evaluation to detect and treat lower alcoholic drinkers is recommended
Alcohol Drinking* ; Alcohol-Related Disorders ; Alcoholics ; Chungcheongbuk-do* ; Drinking ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Prevalence* ; Questionnaires ; Rural Population

OBJECTIVES: Since Korea has been known to be one of the endemic area for hepatitis B virus(HBV) infection, vaccination for HBV has been recommended for all neonates in Korea. After starting vaccination in 1983, the change of sero-positivity of HBsAg and HBsAb is expected. This study was carried out to investigate the seropositive rate of hepatitis B virus surface antigen and antibody in high school freshmen students in Chungju-city. METHODS AND MATERIALS: From 1998 to 2001, a total of 11,735 who were born in 1982 to 1986, were enrolled in this study. HBsAg and anti-HBs were tested by reversed passive hemagglutination and passive hemagglutination, respectively. PESULTS: The study population was 11,735 students who were composed of 5,813 males (49.6%) and 5,914 females (50.4%). The HBsAg sero-positivity of male and female students was 3.25% (n=381) and 2.59% (n=153) respectively. The anti-HBs sero-positivity of male and female students was 62.2% (n=3,154) and 64.1% (n=2,969) respectively. There are significant difference observed in comparison of HBsAg and anti-HBs seropositivity according to sex (p<0.05). From 1982 to 1986 on birth year, anti-HBs sero-positivity has been increased significantly from 63.3% to 73.3%. But the change of HBsAg sero-positivity has not been changed significantly. CONCLUSIONS: As compared with previous studies of HBsAg and anti-HBs, the sero-positive rate of HBsAg has not been changed but that of HBsAb has been increased significantly. This result revealed that the effect of HBV vaccination program was successful.
Antigens, Surface ; Female ; Hemagglutination ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; Hepatitis B virus* ; Hepatitis B* ; Hepatitis* ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Korea ; Male ; Parturition ; Vaccination