Prevalence of alcohol consumption and alcohol use disorders among outdoor drinkers in public open places in Nigeria

BACKGROUND: There is a rapid shift in the social context of drinking, with a large proportion of regular drinkers favouring outdoor-open space drinking, such as motor-parks, by the road sides, the majority of which are unlicensed premises for drinking. METHOD: This study determined the prevalence and determinants of harmful or hazardous alcohol use and possible dependence, defined as a "likely alcohol use disorder" (AUD) in a community sample of 1119 patrons of open space drinking places in Ibadan, Nigeria, using the AUDIT. Scores of 8 and above signified a likely AUD. The associations between a likely AUD and demographic characteristics were sought using Chi square statistics and binary regression analysis was used to determine the effects of multiple confounding variables on a likely AUD using the SPSS version 20.0 software. RESULTS: Of the entire population, the prevalence of likely AUD was 39.5%, and 44.4% out of the drinking population Multivariate analysis showed that Islamic religion was a negative predictor for likely AUD, OR = 0.13, 95% CI (0.06-0.26), while rural residence, OR = 1.84, 95% CI (1.34-2.53) and cigarette smoking OR = 1.81, 95% CI (1.37-2.40) were predictive of likely AUD. CONCLUSION: Outdoor-open space drinkers are likely to have AUD compared with the general population. Open space drinking has a huge public health implication because of the associated health risks and injuries.