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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Apr 29.
Published in final edited form as: Addiction. 2019 Nov 6;115(5):850–862. doi: 10.1111/add.14873

Table 2. Drinking characteristics by problem drinking status in male current regular drinkers.

Low-risk drinkers
(n=25958)
High-risk drinkers
(n=27254)
Problem drinkers with 1 indicator
(n=13271)
Problem drinkers with 2+ indicators
(n=3421)
p-value
Drinking characteristics
   Drank alcohol on the day of survey, %   10.7   17.5   28.5   33.7 <0.001
   Daily drinking, %   35.9   74.5   76.8   83.7 <0.001
   Age started regular drinking, mean (SD)   30.8 (12.2)   27.5 (9.5)   27.5 (10.7)   26.1 (9.4) <0.001
   Drinking with meals, %   87.0   86.4   85.0   83.5 <0.001
   Flushing response*, %   25.5   13.8   15.6   13.8 <0.001
Typical drinking week
   Mean weekly consumption, g/week (SD) 109.2 (56.5) 378.4 (209.1) 383.4 (277.6) 506.5 (344.4) <0.001
   Heavy episodic drinking (HED), %     0.0   60.8   48.4   61.0 <0.001
   Heavy drinking (200+g/week), %     0.0   88.0   69.8   80.7 <0.001
   HED and heavy drinking, %     0.0   48.8   45.3   58.4 <0.001
   Beverage types consumed, % <0.001
         Strong spirit (≥40% alcohol) only   34.8   56.4   51.8   55.7
         Weak spirit (<40% alcohol) only   21.1   24.1   24.0   23.8
         Beer only   27.2   12.3   12.6   10.6
         Rice wine or grape wine only   16.8     7.1   11.5     9.9
Special occasion
   Mean consumption per session, g/session (SD) 106.4 (86.3) 169.2 (111.0) 168.3 (112.0) 203.5 (134.4) <0.001
   HED on special drinking occasion, %   69.4   93.5   89.2   94.2 <0.001
Last time drinking
   Mean consumption per session, g/session (SD)   32.0 (26.7)   61.0 (41.8)   57.6 (40.1)   67.0 (47.5) <0.001
   HED on the last drinking day, %   11.4   41.3   38.4   46.0 <0.001

SD, standard deviation; HED, heavy episodic drinking.

Prevalences and means are adjusted for age group and region

p-values were calculated using a chi-squared test for association between problem drinking and drinking characteristics.

Low-risk drinkers were current regular drinkers who drank <200g/week, with no HED in a typical drinking week or problem drinking indicator reported; high-risk drinkers were current regular drinkers who either drank at least 200g/week or engaged in HED in a typical drinking week, but with no problem drinking indicator reported; problem drinkers were current regular drinkers who reported at least one problem drinking indicator, and were further classified into “1 problem drinking indicator” and “2+ problem drinking indicators” according to the number of problem drinking indicators reported.

*

Experiencing hot flushes or dizziness soon after first mouthful or after drinking small amount of alcohol.