This cross-sectional study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital. A pilot study was conducted by division of Clinical Pharmacology at the in-patient wards of Department of Psychiatry for a month to assess the feasibility of the study and adequacy of sample size. From hospital medical record section we found that 100-120 patients were admitted each year with alcohol dependence syndrome in past three years, considering this sample size of 100 was considered for present study. This study was conducted from 1^st December 2009 to 1^st December 2010. The study has been approved by Institutional ethical review board with IERB Ref. number 81/2010. All patients aged more than 18 years of age admitted in psychiatry ward diagnosed as alcohol dependent by psychiatrist (According to ICD 10 criteria) [8] and consented for study were included in the study. Subjects with history of concurrent major physical or psychiatric co-morbid conditions prior to alcohol related disorders, harmful use of other substances like charas, bhang, ganja, opioids, amphetamine and their complicated withdrawal and/or patients with substance-induced psychotic disorders were excluded from the study. Total of 102 subjects were included in the study. A specially designed CRF was used to collect the data from hospital in- patients admitted at the Psychiatry wards [Annexure-1]. The data on socio-demography, age of onset of alcohol consumption, the amount, type and duration of alcohol consumption, the reason/s for consumption and persons responsible for hospital admission was collected on the day of admission to ward.

In this study any person who consumed alcohol every day was considered as regular basis of intake. Symptoms like anxiety, irritability, tremors, seizures, delirium tremens etc., which appeared after sudden discontinuation or decreased alcohol use were considered as Withdrawal symptoms.

Data collected was entered on excel spread sheet. Baseline data was subjected to descriptive statistical analysis and was expressed as percentages. Categorical variables were compared using Chi-square (χ²) test. SPSS version 17.0 was used to analyse the data. Microsoft Word and Excel have been used to generate graphs and tables.

The age wise distribution of 102 patients with mean age of 41.17±9.8 years is shown in [Table/Fig-1]. There were 101 males and one female patient. Most of the subjects were from urban area (61.76%) and majority were married (90.18%). The distribution of patients based on their education, occupation and socioeconomic status with monthly income using modified Kuppuswamy classification is presented in [Table/Fig-2] [9].

[Table/Fig-1]:

Age wise distribution of study subjects. N=102.

Median=40, Mode=30 years

The onset of alcohol consumption on a regular basis before the age of 18 years and from 19 to 24 years was found to be 27.45% and 41.18%, respectively [Table/Fig-3]. Majority i.e., 81.37% of the current admissions was in the productive age group. The mean age at first hospital admission after the onset of regular alcohol consumption was 40.20 years. The differences related to hospital admission between the groups were not found to be statistically significant [Table/Fig-4]. The type of alcohol frequently consumed included: whisky, brandy, a combination of these followed by: rum, beer, gin, vodka, or any two of these. Majority of the patients consumed spirits (96.07%) and 73.52% consumed 4 or more units of alcohol per day [Table/Fig-5].

The reasons for seeking admission to hospital by most of alcohol dependent patients i.e., 58.80% was related to illnesses due to alcohol consumption, followed by the guilt feeling among 19.6%. The family problems, financial and job problems and social outcast together constituted 11.8% admissions. Majority of patients, 52.9% reported to hospital on their own for medical assistance, and 37.3% influenced by their family members and the remaining as referrals by other physicians, friends and employer [Table/Fig-6].

There were 40.20% patients with previous history of hospital admission for the management of alcohol dependence or alcohol related health problems and of these 30.39% received one of the three FDA approved anti-craving medications namely disulfiram, naltrexone and acamprosate for relapse prevention. The baseline characteristics of relapsed, readmitted patients were comparable to that of patients who were admitted for the first time 59.80% for the management of alcohol dependence. The data was published before as Lohit K et al., [10].

The per capita alcohol consumption and the prevalence of alcohol related disorders including dependence are reported to be on the rise in India despite the strong efforts by the national government to reduce alcoholism [2]. It is estimated that there are 4.5% adult men suffering from alcohol related disorders/problems which account for more than a fifth of hospital admissions; 18% of psychiatric emergencies; more than 20% of all brain injuries and 60% of all injuries reporting to India’s emergency rooms [11].

In the present study the age of onset of alcohol consumption on a regular basis was found to be between 15-18 years (the correct age below 18 could not be ascertained) with the mean age around 16 years in more than quarter of the patients and less than 24 year age in 68% of patients which is similar to the study conducted in Mangalore by D’Souza PC and Mathai PJ, Canada by DeWit DJ et al., and Sartor CE et al., [12-14]. However, study from Assam and Punjab by Mahanta B et al., and Khosla V et al., respectively states very early onset of alcohol consumption before 14 years [15,16]. This difference in the finding may be attributed to a region and also difference in the study sample compared to our study.

The permissible age for drinking alcohol in India varies from 18 years to 25 years from state to state. In Karnataka the legal age for drinking alcohol is 18 years according to The Karnataka Excise Act, 1965 Section 36 [17]. It is important to note that despite this law, many of the adolescents are reported to consume alcohol even before 18 years of age as seen in the present study and the age of initiation of consumption on a regular basis was 18 to 24 years in 68.63% of patients and the remaining consumed alcohol beyond this age.

The existing Section 32, relevant to health permits of THE KARNATAKA PROHIBITION ACT, 1961 suggests, the State Government, or subject to its control, the Deputy Commissioner (DC), may grant a health permit for the use or consumption of liquor to any person who requires such liquor for the preservation or maintenance of his health, provided that no such permit shall be granted to a minor and such permits shall be granted for such quantity and shall be subject to further conditions as may be prescribed [18]. Even the section 13 of Bombay Prohibition Act 1949, states that “no person shall consume or use liquor and section 22A states that no person other than a Registered Medical Practitioner (RMP) shall issue any prescription for any intoxicating liquor unless he believes in good faith after careful medical examination of the person for whose use such prescription is sought, that the use of such intoxicating liquor by such person is necessary and will afford relief to him from some known ailment” [19]. Therefore, without prescription by a RMP or permission from the concerned authority no person can get alcohol/liquor. Despite existence of such laws the prevalence of alcohol consumption has increased during recent years which suggest failure in implementing the law. According to article 47 of the Constitution of India, prohibition is included among the directive principles of state policy which states “The State shall endeavour to bring about Prohibition of the use (of Alcohol) except for medicinal purposes of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injurious to health [20].” In the present study none of the patients gave history of ill health before consumption of alcohol and none were prescribed alcohol for medicinal purpose, this shows that the implementation of the article 47 appears to have failed. However, prohibition of liquor/alcohol is in force in few states of India [17].

The male preponderance of alcohol dependence is seen in our study which can be explained by prevalent socio cultural and religious factors across India [12,21,22]. However, this finding may need further confirmation since the possibility exists that females may not reveal due to fear of social outcast. Majority of the male patients were married (90.18%) and living with respective partners. However, it was not possible to ascertain adverse impact of alcohol dependence on the family such as domestic violence, psychosocial disturbances and increasing economic burden which are well known [5]. However, in the present study this data was not collected since patients were reluctant to reveal personal history and the same may be considered as a limitation. The finding that maximum numbers of patients were from urban and semi urban areas can be justified by the fact that study centre is a tertiary care hospital located centrally in an urban area and caters to patients around this. The socioeconomic status of our study subjects showed majority belonged to upper lower and middle classes which were similar to the study carried out by D’Souza PC and Mathai PJ, and by Benegal V et al., with 45% rural study participants [12,23]. This similarity can be explained as the study was conducted in a similar geographic location [24]. The low standards of living are said to be associated with adolescent onset drinking. The duration of regular alcohol consumption was nearly 20 years and the mean age at admission was 40 years. The fact that the adolescent and late adolescent group is representative of major part of India belonging to lower middle income category and this may be considered to contribute significantly to economic burden and to adversely influence the socioeconomic status [2,24]. The findings of the present follow-up study of three months also support that alcohol dependence is a major contributor of co-morbidities and therefore a reason for patients to be hospitalised for treatment. This latter finding may be considered to add to the economic burden and significantly affect quality of life. However, study needs to be carried out in a larger population.

While, majority of the alcohol dependent patients were seen to report on their own for treatment due to ill health a limited numbers were referred for consultation by family members. The findings in D’Souza PC and Mathai PJ, showed that majority was referred by family and then followed by self interest by the patients [12]. The differences may be due to the changes in the primary objective of the study. In both the studies only a few were referred either by their friends or employer or by patients with previous history of alcohol dependence. This finding appears to signify the least positive societal attitude to lend support in preventing alcohol consumption.

The baseline characteristics of patients who were admitted for the first time for management of alcohol dependence were comparable to that of patients who were re-admitted for the management of alcohol dependence and its ill effects [10]. Therefore, it may be hypothesised that there are increasing chances of relapse in alcohol dependence among this group of patients even after the complete treatment.

There are laws that exist to prevent drunkenness which are expected to help in harm reduction. According to section 76, “penalty for being drunk and for disorderly behaviour of the Karnataka prohibition act 1961, whoever in any street or thoroughfare or public place or in any place to which the public have or are permitted to have access is drunk and is incapable of taking care of himself, or behaves in a disorderly manner under the influence of drink, shall, on conviction, be punished unless the contrary is proved that the person accused of the said offence has drunk liquor or consumed any other intoxicant for the purpose of being intoxicated and not for a medicinal purpose” [18]. Further the observations of the present study shows that 96% of patients consumed >3 units per day support the rising trend in consumption of spirits over the years which is similar to that reported by WHO in 2011 (88%) and 2014 (93%) [2,21]. This suggests that even with the existence of strict laws the harmful use of alcohol is increasing with lack of support from the community.

Although, Indian National government is encouraging to reduce/stop alcoholism the report by Prasad R mentions that there have been hurdles like- low priority given to treatment of alcoholism, lack of access to pharmacological care, poor funding to support and encourage adequate training of appropriate health care professionals as well as failure to motivate them to work in this field [25].

A study by Steven D concludes that offering group therapy aimed at personality traits such as high-risk teenagers may influence significantly in halting progress to more risky drinking in this group of individuals [26]. In addition it has a potential for extension as a halo effect to low-risk students in schools to whom group therapy is offered. This approach is suggested as an early example of personalised prevention in psychiatry. Interestingly this modality appears appropriate, feasible and useful as a supplement to primary medication treatment which can be adopted in a resource poor country like India.

As this was a hospital based study not all alcohol dependent cases were assessed and factors responsible for dependence also differs, need to conduct community based study to assess factors responsible for dependence.

There is an increase in alcohol dependence and early onset of use of alcohol on regular basis there is a need for implementation of robust national level policies laws and acts to change the societal attitude to prevent alcoholism and support from public towards social welfare.

To identify nationwide suitable strategies and models to offer appropriate training, making available safer anti-craving treatment options and preventive measures for alcohol dependence among most productive age group in order to reduce the economic burden to the society as well as in achieving significant harm reduction.