| OCR Text |
Show Alcohol Consumption Compiled by Dan Bergantz 1999 Utah Consumers of Alcohol: 30% Alcohol consumption is a part of America's mainstream social culture. For many, alcohol consumption is a part of social interaction or celebration. For others, the choice to not drink is based on health or religious regions. Regardless of this choice, alcohol consumption is often linked to other public health problems and can lead to alcohol abuse and, therefore, is a public health concern. The National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention & Health Promotion collects prevalence data on a number of health topics and re-ports this data using the Center for Disease Control Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) website. Currently, data on the topic of alcohol consumption are available for Utah and the U.S. for the years seen in the tables to the right. The largest contrast between Utah and the overall U.S. population is simply the percent of individuals who choose to consume alcohol. According to BRFSS survey data for all three survey years, less than 30 percent of Utah's population had consumed alcohol within the past month. This is over 20 percent less than the national average. For those who do consume alcohol in Utah, the survey data percentages are fairly consistent between Utah and the U.S. The percentages regarding frequency and amount of alcohol consumption follow similar data patterns. ? Utah Table 61. Percent of Population that Consumed Alcohol Within the Last Month, Utah and U.S., 1995-1999. Utah U.S. Year Yes No Yes No 1995 29.0% 71.0% 52.7% 47.3% 1997 28.3% 71.7% 53.5% 46.5% 1999 29.7% 70.3% 54.2% 45.8% Table 62. Percent of Population that Consumed Alcohol by Days per Month of Consumption i, Utah and I I.S., 1995-1999. Days per Month Years 1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-31 Utah 1995 70.2% 13.4% 5.8% 4.1% 6.5% 1997 67.9% 14.0% 7.4% 3.4% 7.3% 1999 66.2% 15.5% 6.8% 5.3% 6.1% U.S. 1995 64.6% 16.0% 6.9% 3.0% 8.8% 1997 63.0% 16.0% 8.0% 5.3% 7.8% 1999 62.0% 15.7% 7.6% 5.5% 8.2% Table 63. Percent of Population that Consumed Alcohol by Average Drinks per Day, Utah and U.S., 1995-1999. Average Drinks per Day Year 1 2 3 4 5+ Utah 1995 33.1% 29.6% 15.1% 7.6% 14.7% 1997 37.4% 30.4% 16.3% 6.2% 9.8% 1999 32.4% 26.2% 17.4% 6.9% 17.0% U.S. 1995 36.5% 31.1% 14.7% 6.8% 10.8% 1997 36.1% 30.9% 14.8% 6.8% 10.3% 1999 35.6% 30.1% 14.5% 6.9% 12.2% I U.S. 1999 Figure 42. Percentage of Population Consuming Alcohol At Least Monthly, Utah and U.S., 1995-1999. Sources: Center for Disease Control. National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. [Online] http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/. Retrieved 4/3/02. 98 Utah's Health: An Annual Review Volume VIII |
