Assessment of the current drinking pattern in Poland. A study among people hospitalised at the Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology in Warsaw

Abstract

This paper presents an outline of a research project that will be carried out in 2020 in the Detoxification Ward and the Rehabilitation Therapy Ward of the Department of Prevention and Treatment of Addictions of the Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology in Warsaw, Poland. The cross-sectional study will describe the population of alcohol-dependent people and characterise the dominant drinking pattern in this population. In particular, the frequency of alcohol use and preferences in terms of volume of alcohol bottles will be assessed. An additional objective of the study will be to compare the population of people hospitalised for alcohol withdrawal syndromes with people hospitalised for rehabilitation therapy. The hypothesis will be interrogated that an increase in demand for small vodka bottles (SVBs) correlates with the change in the current pattern of alcohol drinking. So far the drinking pattern in Poland has been described as a pattern of heavy drinking – so-called binge drinking. With growing interests of consumers in SVBs there is a high probability of the appearance of a new pattern, constituting a model in which the patient drinks alcohol in small portions several times a day, maintaining a relatively stable blood alcohol concentration. In recent decades an increased alcohol consumption per capita per year in Poland and mortality rates due to alcohol use have been observed. Therefore, if confirmed by the study, this new emerging drinking pattern may become one of the main tasks and challenges for Public Health. Key WordS: alcohol, drinking pattern, alcohol-related diseases. addreSS for correSpoNdeNce: Dr Andrzej Silczuk, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology in Warsaw, 9 Sobieskiego St., 02-957 Warsaw, Poland, e-mail: asilczuk@ipin.edu.pl DOI: https://doi.org/10.5114/jhi.2020.95522 IntroductIon For the past two decades we have been documenting the scale, health impact, and economic underpinnings of alcohol consumption in Poland. Our research has shown that alcohol is a leading contributor to Poland’s high levels of premature mortality, which remains among the highest in the European Union [1-12]. It is particularly concerning that no improvement has been observed in this period in terms of alcohol-related harm. On the contrary, since 2003 we have seen a rapid increase in alcohol consumption in Poland, from 6.5 to 10.2 litres of pure alcohol per capita of the adult population per year. At the same time, patterns of drinking have been changing. Beer has replaced vodka as the most consumed type of alcohol, although hard spirits still account for about one-third of all alcohol consumed. More recently, we have seen indications that the traditional dominant pattern of alcohol consumption – “binge drinking” (sessions of drinking large amounts of alcohol at one event) – has been increasingly replaced by the consumption of smaller portions of alcohol with shorter intervals between drinks, but throughout the whole day. We have described the accompanying rapid rise in the sale of small vodka bottles (SVBs) in a recent publication [7].