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H F Garretsen

Publications and source records attributed to H F Garretsen.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Dutch alcohol policy developments: the last decades and present state of affairs.

The article addresses the Dutch alcohol policy over the last decades and the present state of the art. In Dutch society an ambivalent attitude towards alcohol consumption prevails. Developments in legislation and regulations, in prevention and care are described. Several key problems are identified. Among others it is concluded that too little attention is paid to alcohol compared to other drugs. Both in prevention and care evidence-based work has to be stimulated. Legislation and regulations are insufficiently used and evaluated. The government needs to constantly evaluate its policy and develop its options within the area of legislation and regulations, which should also include a critical comparison with the situation in other countries.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Drinking patterns and health outcomes: occasional versus regular drinking.

AIMS: To compare the health of drinkers with different drinking patterns and particularly drinkers with comparable average intakes and different drinking frequency. SETTING: General population survey conduced in Eindhoven, the Netherlands (n = 18,973). MEASUREMENTS: Chronic conditions, perceived general health, and health complaints were the outcome measures. Drinking categories were constructed by taking into account the frequency and amount of alcohol consumption (up to six glasses per sitting). FINDINGS: Drinking 3-5 days per week/3-5 glasses per occasion and drinking 6-7 days/1-2 glasses were associated with lower likelihood for reporting health complaints and for perceiving one's health as less than good compared to those drinking 1-2 days/1-2 glasses (reference group). Drinking 1-2 days/6 glasses was associated with being more likely to report chronic conditions, compared to the reference group. Those drinking 1-2 days/6 glasses were significantly more likely to report > 3 health complaints than those drinking 6-7 days/1-2 glasses. Although no differences were observed for any of the other comparison groups, at high levels of consumption (18-35 units/week), occasional drinkers (3-5 days/6 glasses) seemed to have better health outcomes compared to their counterparts (6-7 days/3-5 glasses). CONCLUSION: In addition to average alcohol intake, drinking pattern is also related to health.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Adverse working conditions and alcohol use in men and women.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the association between adverse working conditions and abstinence and heavy drinking. METHODS: The study was a cross-sectional study within the framework of a general population survey conducted in Eindhoven, The Netherlands (N = 7533). Working conditions were classified into four domains: hazardous physical working conditions, demands at work, level of control over one's job, and support from coworkers and supervisors. Abstainers were compared with drinkers; within drinkers, heavy drinkers were compared with light-moderate drinkers, and those who reported binge drinking were compared with those who did not report binge drinking. RESULTS: Respondents who reported adverse working conditions were as likely to be abstainers as they were to be drinkers. Within drinkers, males and females who reported high hazardous physical working conditions were more likely to be heavy drinkers than to be light-moderate drinkers (light-moderate is not just an amount, but a combination of amount and frequency) and to report binge drinking (males only). Respondents who reported high demands were also more likely to be heavy drinkers than to be light-moderate drinkers. CONCLUSIONS: Stressful circumstances, such as adverse working conditions, were associated with high levels of alcohol intake among drinking men and women.

Aged↗
PubMed1999

The U-shaped curve: various health measures and alcohol drinking patterns.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the well-known U-shaped relationship between average alcohol intake and mortality also holds for other health measures and for aspects of drinking other than weekly average alcohol intake, such as frequency of heavy-drinking episodes. METHOD: This study was carried out within the framework of a general population survey conducted in Eindhoven, The Netherlands (N = 18,973). Apart from mortality, the following health measures were considered: self-assessed health (based on perceived general health and the Nottingham Health Profile questionnaire), a list of chronic conditions and a list of health complaints. Respondents were categorized as abstainers, light (1-14 units/week), moderate (15-28 units/week) and excessive drinkers (> or =29 units/week). Information on the frequency with which heavy-drinking episodes occurred was also available. RESULTS: Light or moderate drinkers had not only lower mortality but other health burdens were lower than for either abstainers or heavier drinkers. Frequent heavy-drinking episodes were observed to be directly related to increased mortality rates, although not significantly. A trend was observed for drinkers reporting seldom heavy-drinking episodes (once or twice in the previous 6 months) to report less health burdens and to have lower mortality rates than those reporting no heavy drinking episodes. CONCLUSIONS: A U-shaped pattern was observed for mortality as well as for several other health measures. Frequent heavy-drinking episodes were related to an increased likelihood of mortality (not significant but suggesting a J-shaped pattern) and were not related to other health measures.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Aggregate comparisons of self-reported versus nonself-reported drinking in a general population survey.

Insight is gained into the validity of self-reported drinking in the general population by comparing self-reports and nonself-reports on the aggregate level. Married and cohabiting respondents of a general population survey (N = 2,169) were asked about both their own and their spouses' drinking behavior. It was found that on the aggregate level, distribution of "moderate" drinking and usual frequency of drinking is similar between self- and nonself-reports. Self-reported "heavy" drinking, however, is lower than nonself-reported "heavy" drinking among women in general, older women, and women with a lower education. Among men in general and older men in particular, however, self-reported occasional "heavy" drinking was found to be higher. The similar distribution of "moderate" drinking and usual frequency of drinking between self- versus nonself-reports gives reassurance about the validity of self-reported drinking behavior. The discordance in self-reported versus nonself-reported "heavy" drinking, however, raises questions about the validity. Interpretation of the discordance is not conclusive: more research (experimental and qualitative) has to be done to disentangle this issue.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Drinking patterns and attitudes toward drinking in the late-middle-aged.

The main objective of this study was to gain insight into attitudes toward drinking, drinking patterns and the relationship between attitudes and drinking patterns in the population in the age range 55 to 69. Respondents over 55 years of age were compared to those below 55. The former ones were more likely to be abstainers and less tolerant toward others' drinking. Being tolerant toward others' drinking was negatively associated with abstaining from alcohol. Some differences were observed between being tolerant toward drinking patterns of men, women, or relatives, and own drinking behavior.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1998

Gender differences in alcohol-related problems: controlling for drinking behaviour.

AIMS: Two hypotheses were tested to explain a high prevalence of alcohol-related problems among women relative to their low prevalence of excessive drinking: (1) At a given level of drinking, women may report more problems of any type than do men. (2) At a given level of drinking, the number of problems or the severity of the reported problems may be lower among women than among men. DESIGN: General population survey. SETTING: Rotterdam, The Netherlands. PARTICIPANTS: 3537 Dutch respondents within the age range 16-69 years. MEASUREMENTS: Alcohol-related problems were measured in five problem areas: psychological dependence, symptomatic drinking, social problems, health problems/accidents and frequent drunkenness/hangovers. A problem index was formed by adding up the scores in the five separate problem areas. Alcohol use was measured by the Quantity-Frequency-Variability index. FINDINGS: For the same level of drinking, women were as likely as men to report alcohol-related problems except that women light drinkers were actually less likely to report problems than men. Men tended to have a greater accumulation of different types of problems within drinking categories than women. Overall problem severity, however, did not differ between men and women. The apparent excess prevalence of alcohol problems in women relative to drinking level appears to be due to presence of problems even among light drinkers and a greater preponderance of light drinkers in women than men. CONCLUSIONS: The first hypothesis was rejected; drinking levels being the same, the level of alcohol problems is the same or even lower for women than for men. As hypothesized, men tend to have a greater accumulation of different kinds of problems than women. However, the severity of the reported problems does not differ between men and women.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

A "parliamentary inquiry" into alcohol and drugs: a survey of psychoactive substance use and gambling among members of the Dutch parliament.

In the fall of 1994 a survey was conducted on the use of alcohol and drugs and on gambling among members of the Dutch parliament. The survey indicated that almost two-thirds of the representatives sampled supported legalization of marijuana. A smaller majority (57%) was in favor of reducing the number of coffee shops selling marijuana. At least a quarter of the members of parliament had used marijuana themselves at one time or other. Alcohol consumption could be said to be "excessive" or "very excessive" for nearly 10% of the members of parliament. In general, the nature and extent of the parliamentarians' substance use was comparable to that in the Dutch general population.

Bias↗
PubMed1997

Heroin addicts in the community and in treatment compared for severity of problems and need for help.

This article focuses on differences and similarities between heroin addicts in the community and in three types of treatment and a model for help-seeking. Data were collected with the Addiction Severity Index (ASI). Analyses concentrated on severity of problems, concern regarding the problems, and need for help. The results indicate that differences exist across the groups. Psychological and social problems were more frequently reported by addicts applying for inpatient treatment. Occupational, health, and legal problems appeared not to be triggers for seeking professional help.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Alcohol use and problem drinking: prevalences in the general Rotterdam population.

Research was done on the distribution of abstinence, excessive drinking, alcohol-related problems, and problem drinking among the general population of Rotterdam, Netherlands in 1994. Prevalences are assessed among the total population and subpopulations defined by sex, age, marital status, educational level, daily activities, and income. A general population survey was conducted among a random sample of 8,000 Dutch inhabitants of Rotterdam in the 16-69 age range. The response rate was 44% (N = 3,537). The majority of the respondents were "light" or "moderate" drinkers. Prevalences of excessive drinking, alcohol-related problems (1 or more), and problem drinking in the total population were 8, 28, and 9%, respectively. It is shown that women tend to report many alcohol-use-related problems considering their relatively low consumption pattern; young men have a high prevalence of problem drinking; being single, being unemployed, and being declared unfit to work are associated with problematic drinking. The results found for socioeconomic status appear to be inconsistent.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

The Dutch instant lottery: prevalence and correlates of at-risk playing.

After a long and contentious political debate, the instant lottery was introduced in the Netherlands in 1994. One of the conditions for allowing the introduction was that an evaluation study should be conducted with regard to possible negative side effects of the instant lottery in terms of excessive playing or addiction. This article reports on the main results of this evaluation study. In a random sample of 4497 instant lottery players, at-risk players were differentiated from recreative players on the basis of level of involvement in the instant lottery, impaired control and the experienced negative consequences of playing. Of the sample, 4.1% could be classified as an at-risk player. Actual problems resulting from playing in the instant lottery were experienced by 0.7% of the players. At-risk players and recreative players did not only differ substantially in their playing behaviour, but also with regard to their socio-economic background, playing motivation, participation in other games of chance, and involvement in alcohol use and use of marijuana. To summarize, at-risk players were more likely to come from a poor socio-economic background, to play the instant lottery with a negative playing motivation, to be heavily involved in other forms of gambling, to have used marijuana and to drink alcohol excessively.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

A research perspective on drug related nuisance--Dutch experiences.

The Dutch policy on drugs has yielded positive results from the public health point of view. Drug related nuisance, however, is an enduring problem and society's acceptance of this nuisance is diminishing. This article discusses the concept of drug-related nuisance and addresses the question how this nuisance can be measured. Next to it, attention is paid to the question whether the so-called Dutch "harm reduction policy" will survive.

Crime↗
PubMed1995

Health of migrants and migrant health policy, The Netherlands as an example.

In The Netherlands, as in many other countries, many studies have addressed the health situation of migrant groups. After a discussion on methodological pitfalls in migrant studies, the article reviews the most important results. The data show that there are differences in the health status and mortality patterns between migrant groups and the indigenous population. Most, but not all, of the differences are in disfavour of ethnic groups. Possible determinants of these differences are evident in socio/cultural, genetic and socio-economic factors. A model is presented that demonstrates the relation between these factors and health and disease. Implications for research and for health policy are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Simultaneous strategies to reduce demand for and problematic use of hard drugs.

The primary responsibility of (local) governments is to enable people to make healthy choices in order to promote public health. Social circumstances are important determinants of choices that people make. Social risk factors for problematic use of drugs should be reduced to a minimum. Health education goals need to be matched to the different developmental stages of drug use behaviours of subgroups in the population. Employment perspectives for school leavers form an essential ingredient of policies which aim to reduce the demand for 'hard' drugs in order to divert (young) people from drug careers. Primary preventive strategies form the backbone of public policies focused on reduction of demand for hard drugs. Primary preventive strategies are population based and implemented by the public and private sector. Secondary preventive strategies are focused on specific high-risk groups and aim to prevent the development of drug dependence and/or to reduce harm for drug users. Tertiary preventive strategies are directed at individual hard drug users and emphasize harm reduction and rehabilitation of drug users and seek to reduce the side-effects of problematic hard drugs use for the general population. Innovative applied research is needed to improve field methods for timely detection of problematic hard drug use. More information about 'invisible' (hidden) populations of integrated drug users may offer new insights and ingredients for preventive policies on hard drugs.

Criminal Law↗
PubMed1993

The geographic relationship between alcohol use, bars, liquor shops and traffic injuries in Rotterdam.

Within the scope of the World Health Organization's program "Health for All by the Year 2000," a health information system for Rotterdam neighborhoods was developed. Through this information system, among others, data on geographic distribution of alcohol use, bars, liquor shops and traffic accidents are collected. Research has been done on the geographic relationship between the percentage of alcohol users and numbers of bars, liquor shops and traffic injuries. Significant correlations were found between the percentage of alcohol users and traffic injuries per neighborhood, the number of bars and traffic injuries per neighborhood and the percentage of alcohol users and number of liquor shops per neighborhood. Although confounding of the data occurs, the observed relations can be logically explained. Knowledge of the geographic relation between alcohol use, traffic injuries and number of bars can be useful for further development of multi-sectoral health policies.

Accidents, Traffic↗