Excessive drinking and history of unemployment and cohabitation in Danish men born in 1953.

BACKGROUND

Few studies exist on social inequality of excessive drinking in Denmark and differences seem to be less pronounced than in other European countries. The aims of this study were to investigate how history of employment and cohabitation is associated with excessive drinking and to study interaction between both.

METHODS

Birth-cohort study of 6112 Danish men born in 1953 with follow-up in 2004 on excessive drinking at age 51 years.

RESULTS

Excessive drinking (between 22 and 35 units of alcohol per week) differed little depending on history of unemployment and cohabitation. Risk of very excessive drinking (drinking >35 units of alcohol per week) increased with number of job losses-ranging from one job-loss [odds ratio (OR) 1.72, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.39-2.14] to three or more job-losses (OR 2.48, 95% CI 1.75-3.52)--and duration of unemployment--ranging from 1 to 5 years (OR 1.34, 95% CI 1.11-1.63) to ≥10 years (OR 4.16, CI 3.13-5-53). Very excessive drinking was also associated with number of broken partnerships-ranging from one broken partnership (OR 1.43, 95% CI 1.16-1.77) to three or more broken partnerships (OR 2.69, 95% CI 2.03-3.55)--and with living alone for >5 years--ranging from 6 to 9 years (OR 1.73, 95% CI 1.30-2.29) to ≥10 years (OR 2.55, 95% CI 2.04-3.55). We found an interaction between the number of job-losses and of broken partnerships in relation to very excessive drinking.

CONCLUSIONS

Very excessive drinking is related to number of job-losses, broken partnerships, living alone and duration of unemployment.