Rapid Response to:

EDITORIALS: Gurprit Pannu, Shahid Zaman, Neeraj Bhala, and Rashid Zaman Alcohol use in South Asians in the UK. BMJ 2009; 339: b402

Adhikary, Pratik

Simkhada, Padam

van Teijlingen, Edwin

English

Bournemouth University Research Online

Alcohol use amongst the Nepalese in the UKWe found the Editorial ‘Alcohol use in South Asians in the UK is under-recognised, andalcohol related harm is disproportionately high’ a timely contribution to the debate on thehealth of South Asians in the UK [1]. Pannu et al. argue that the degree and pattern ofalcohol use among UK South Asians varies greatly.We published a lifestyle study conducted among one particular group ofSouth Asians living in the UK, namely Nepalese migrants [2]. One of thefirst stumbling block we came across in planning the study was that thereis, of course, currently no way of identifying Nepalese migrants for anational study as there is no central registration or database. Fromdifferent sources we estimated the Nepalese population in the UK to bebetween 80,000 and 100,000; these include retired or currently servingGurkha soldiers, businessmen, students and other immigrants. To get afairly representative sample of Nepalese migrants in the absence of aformal sampling frame: (i) we contacted Nepalese community leaders indifferent cities to explore whether they maintained a list of Nepalese livingin their area or asked about the possible community gatherings wherelarge number of people could be met such as the Nepali New Yearcelebration; and (ii) contacts were made through Nepalese languagemedia: such as a press-release in a local newspaper Sandesh (based inPeterborough), and a broadcast via the British Forces BroadcastingServices (BFBS) Gurkha radio to invite Nepalese immigrants toparticipate in the survey. These routes of recruitment interestingly overlapwith the type of media suggested by Pannu and colleagues fordistributing targeted health promotion interventions to South Asians [1].Our lifestyle study (n=327) found that 60.9% of Nepalese respondentsconsumed alcohol and that alcohol use was associated with gender, ageand smoking were significantly associated with alcohol consumption inmultivariate analysis. Males were ten times more likely to be alcoholusers than females (OR = 9.7, 95% CI = 5.1 to 18.3). Similarly individualswho were between 30–45 years were equally likely to drink as individualsolder than 45, whereas those younger than 30 years were less likely toconsume alcohol (OR = 0.4, 95% CI = 0.1 to 0.9). Alcohol consumptionwas significantly associated with smoking in the multivariate analysis.Alcohol drinkers were seven times more likely to be smokers than non-drinkers (OR = 7.4, 95% CI = 2.6 to 21.4).Finally, we observed that the overall alcohol consumption rate of bothNepalese men and women in the UK (74% for males and 21% forfemales) was considerably higher than the overall alcohol consumption inNepal (male 33.6%; female 15.3%) [3].References1. Pannu, G. Zaman, S., Bhala, N., Zaman, R. (2009) Alcohol use inSouth Asians in the UK is under-recognised, and alcohol related harm isdisproportionately high (editorial), BMJ ;339:b40282. Adhikary, P.P., Simkhada, P.P., van Teijlingen E., Raja, A.E. (2008)Health and Lifestyle of Nepalese Migrants in the UK BMC InternationalHealth and Human Rights 8: 6. Web address:www.biomedcentral.com/1472-698X/8/6.3. World Health Organization (2004) World Health Survey, Nepal 2003:Global InfoBase: alcohol.Competing interests: None declaredEdwin van TeijlingenPadam SimkhadaPratik Adhikary

Alcohol use among the Nepalese in the UK

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Bournemouth University Research Online