Table 3.
Use of alcohol and prescribed drugs in HUNT2 (1995–1997) and HUNT3 (2006–2008)
| Prevalence of frequent drinking (alcohol consumption ≥ 4 days/week) among participants in HUNT2 and who participated in HUNT3 11 years later | |||
| HUNT2 | HUNT3 | ||
| Total (n = 7955) | N (%) | 83 (1.0) | 297 (3.7)c*** |
| Gender | |||
| Women (n = 3876) | N (%) | 14 (0.4) | 106 (2.7)c*** |
| Men (n = 4079) | N (%) | 69 (1.7) | 191 (4.7)c*** |
| Age group in HUNT2: | |||
| 53–59 years (n = 3462) | N (%) | 30 (0.9) | 150 (4.3)c*** |
| 60–64 years (n = 2020) | N (%) | 20 (1.0) | 71 (3.5)c** |
| ≥ 65 years (n = 2473) | N (%) | 33 (1.3) | 76 (3.1)c** |
| Prevalence of use of prescribed drugs among participants in HUNT2a and who participated in HUNT3 11 years laterb | |||
| HUNT2 | HUNT3 | ||
| Total (n = 8691) | N (%) | 858 (9.9) | 2354 (27.1)c*** |
| Gender | |||
| Female (n = 4714) | N (%) | 621 (13.2) | 1681 (35.7)c*** |
| Male (n = 3977) | N (%) | 237 (6.0) | 673 (16.9)c*** |
| Age group in HUNT2 | |||
| 53–59 years (n = 3481) | N (%) | 265 (7.6) | 693 (19.9)c*** |
| 60–64 years (n = 2196) | N (%) | 207 (9.4) | 573 (26.1)c*** |
| ≥ 65 years (n = 3014) | N (%) | 386 (12.8) | 1088 (36.1)c*** |
aInformation about prescribed drugs in HUNT2: Self-reported use of anxiolytic or sleep medication every week or more in the last month
bInformation about prescribed drugs in HUNT3: Addictive psychotropic drugs drawn from the Norwegian Prescription Database were defined as at least one prescription of benzodiazepines or z-hypnotics in two consecutive years (2005/2006, 2006/2007, 2007/2008 or 2008/2009). Benzodiazepines defined by N03AE, N05BA and N05CD. Z-hypnotics defined by N05CF
cSignificance testing with McNemar’s Exact Test
***P < 0.001