Drinkers at Risk in Western Australia

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Abstract
Summary: In December 1986 the Australian federal government's National Health and Medical Research Council adopted new, conservative guidelines for the responsible consumption of alcohol (up to 2 drinks per day for non‐pregnant adult females and up to 4 drinks per day for adult males), but these have yet to be applied to Australian adult self‐reported alcohol consumption survey data to determine the percentage of the population at risk. Data from a 1986 probability survey of 1,187 Western Australian adults were used to determine the percentage of the state's current drinkers who were at risk (that is, above the responsible level) in relation to three methods: (1) the number of drinking days; (2) the maximum number of drinks consumed on any one day, and (3) the total number of drinks consumed in 1 week based on answers to a 7‐day retrospective alcohol consumption diary. The percentage of the sample at risk for each of the three methods of determining risk was extremely high as analysed by sex and age subgroups. Reported alcohol consumption would have to decrease by 41% if, hypothetically, all drinkers were to drink within responsible levels. It was concluded that attempts should be made to reduce overall alcohol consumption in the state (and indeed the nation) and that due to the demographic profiles of the individuals at risk simultaneously in relation to all three methods of defining risk, that health messages designed to reduce consumption should be targeted at the population as a whole.

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