An overview of Cardiovascular diseases burden among alcoholics and nonalcoholics in a rural area of Tamilnadu - A comparative cross sectional study.

Background: Alcohol consumption is the world's third largest risk factor for disease and disability; in middle-income countries, it is the greatest risk. Alcohol is attributed to nearly 3.2% of all deaths and results in a loss of 4% of total DALYs. Aim & Objective: 1. To estimate the burden of cardiovascular diseases among the alcoholics; 2. To compare the burden of cardiovascular diseases between alcoholics and non alcoholics. Methods: This study was conducted in the Milaganoor village in South Tamilnadu with alcohol habit; All male with alcohol consuming habit above 13 years of age were included in the study and none were excluded from the study. The data was using a semi structured questionnaire. The data collected were consolidated and analyzed using SPSS software; The descriptive statistics were used in the study. Results: In my study there were 1200 male and 1500 female. In only 900 males were with alcohol habit; 62.2% of the male alcoholics were illiterate; Among alcoholics 46.6% belonged to 31-45 years of age; 25.5% of the people belonged to 15-30 years of age and 15.5% of the alcoholics belonged to 46-60 years of age. On seeing the education of the alcoholics majority of the alcoholics were illiterate and only 25.5% of the alcoholic population were with primary form of education. When seeing the education of the non alcoholics majority i.e. 33.3% of the non alcoholics were with secondary education followed by 26.6% of the non alcoholics were with primary form of education and 16.6% of the alcoholics had higher secondary form of education. It is found that 91 out of 900 alcoholics had history of coronary artery disease whereas only 8 out of 300 non alcoholics population had history of coronary artery disease. From this it is evident that alcoholic has positive correlation and it is statistically significant p-value (0.00082). In the same way congestive heart failure was seen high 45 out of 900 in the alcoholic population when compared to the non alcoholic population 5 out of 300 which is also statistically significant p value (0.019). While studying the systemic hypertension, among alcoholics and non alcoholics it is found that pressure was high among alcoholics 150 out of 900 and only 30 out 300 alcoholics had blood pressure which is also statistically significant p value <0.05. Conclusion: It can be concluded that early age of onset and peer pressure are the alarming challenges for the eradication of this social evil. Low education and having a family history of alcohol use are more at risk to it. Health education is the most required intervention to reduce the burden of alcohol use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]