Biomedical subjects

I M Bongers

Publications and source records attributed to I M Bongers.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

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↗

PubMed1999

Comparing the diagnostic accuracy of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin, gamma-glutamyltransferase, and mean cell volume in a general practice population.

In certain populations, the biological alcohol marker carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) is known to have a high diagnostic accuracy. The aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic accuracy of CDT, gamma-glutamyltransferase (gamma-GT), and mean cell volume (MCV) in a general practice population; more specifically, to ascertain whether CDT is a better tool than gamma-GT and MCV for (early) recognition of excessive alcohol use. To represent the general practice situation as realistically as possible, three different drinking patterns are defined: irregular excessive, regular excessive, and very excessive. From a sample of 524 men from seven general practices, sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values of the three markers for the three drinking patterns were compared, and receiver-operating characteristic analysis was used to compare differences between the markers. The results indicate that drinking patterns do influence the (difference in) diagnostic accuracy. CDT has a higher diagnostic accuracy for all three drinking patterns than gamma-GT and higher predictive values for hazardous [(ir)regular excessive] drinking patterns than MCV. However, receiver-operating characteristic analyses failed to demonstrate a significant difference between these patterns. It is concluded that the performance of all tests is too low to be useful for screening procedures in a general population; however, some tests may be useful for case finding. CDT seems to be the best alcohol marker available, although the difference between CDT and MCV is small.

Adolescent↗

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↗

PubMed1998

Mode effects on self-reported alcohol use and problem drinking: mail questionnaires and personal interviewing compared.

OBJECTIVE: Much attention is paid to the influence of different data collection methods on the quality of self-reported drinking behavior estimates. Thus far, however, the findings show inconsistencies. Therefore, a comprehensive study was conducted to compare data on alcohol use and alcohol-related problems obtained by mail survey and personal interviews. METHOD: A general population survey on alcohol was conducted among a random sample of 8,000 Dutch inhabitants of Rotterdam aged 16 to 69. A small sample (n = 500) of the total sample (N = 8,000) was personally interviewed and the others (n = 7,500) received a mailed questionnaire. The response rate was 44% (N = 3,537). Respondents of the mail survey and personal interviews are compared on overall response rate, item-nonresponse rate, background factors, self-reported alcohol use, alcohol-related problems and problem drinking. RESULTS: No notable differences in self-reported alcohol use, alcohol-related problems or problem drinking were found by data collection mode. This holds for both the total general population and for men and women separately. The overall response rate was somewhat higher for the personal interviews. No important significant differences were found in item nonresponse or background factors. CONCLUSIONS: The absence of notable differences in estimated self-reported drinking behavior by mail survey and personal interviews indicates that both data collection methods yield comparable results. This is true for both the total population and for men and women separately.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1998

The specificity of the CDT assay in general practice: the influence of common chronic diseases and medication on the serum CDT concentration.

Early recognition of alcohol problems by general practitioners might be enhanced by the use of better alcohol markers. Several studies have revealed promising results for the carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) assay in certain populations. The aim of our study was to examine the specificity of the CDT assay in a general practice population. The main research question was whether common chronic diseases and/or the accompanying prescribed drugs have a negative influence on the specificity of the CDT assay. The 524 men who participated were selected from seven general practices and were suffering from one or more of the following diseases: hypertension, asthma/bronchitis, diabetes mellitus, adipositis/lipid metabolism disorder, angina pectoris, depression, and disorders of the digestive tract. None of the studied diseases or of the accompanying prescribed drugs had an influence on the specificity of the CDT assay. The overall specificity in this general practitioner population was 0.92. It can be concluded that the studied diseases do not bear an influence on the serum CDT concentration, and that, therefore, the CDT assay is a highly specific instrument for use in assessing alcohol consumption in general practice patients.

Adult↗

PubMed1997

Socio-economic differences in general practitioner and outpatient specialist care in The Netherlands: a matter of health insurance?

Equal treatment for equal needs, irrespective of socio-economic position, is a major issue in many countries. Although in the Netherlands differences in utilization of health care between population groups are less pronounced than in most other countries, some differences by socio-economic position do exist. Controlling for health status, individuals with a high socio-economic status have a higher probability of outpatient contacts with a specialist, but a lower probability of general practitioner contacts, compared with those with a low socioeconomic status. In this cross-sectional study, we studied whether socio-economic differences in GP and outpatient specialist care utilization that exist after health status is taken into account could be explained by different aspects of health insurance. The study population, in which people with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes mellitus, severe back complaints, and heart diseases are overrepresented, consists of 2867 respondents. Multivariate analyses show that the socio-economic differences in outpatient specialist contacts cannot be explained by differences in health insurance, whereas differences in general practitioner contacts can partially be explained by the fact that individuals with higher socio-economic status more often have a private (instead of public) insurance. This is not owing to differences in deductible or insurance coverage between public and private insurance, but is more likely to be caused by differences in regulatory aspects between these two insurance schemes (such as the stronger gate-keeper role of the general practitioner in the public insurance scheme.

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↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Alcohol consumption, alcohol-related problems, problem drinking, and socioeconomic status.

In general, a lower socioeconomic status (SES) is related to a lower health status, more health problems, and a shorter life expectancy. Although causal relations between SES and health are unclear, lifestyle factors play an intermediate role. The purpose of the present study was to obtain more insight into the relation between SES, alcohol consumption, alcohol-related problems, and problem drinking, through a general population survey among 8000 people in Rotterdam. Odds ratios were calculated using educational level as independent, and alcohol consumption, alcohol-related problems, and problem drinking as dependent variables. Abstinence decreased significantly by increasing educational level for both sexes. For men, excessive drinking, and notably very excessive drinking, was more prevalent in the lowest educational group. For women, no significant relation between educational level and prevalence of excessive drinking was found. After controlling for differences in drinking behaviour, among men the prevalence of 'psychological dependence' and 'social problems' was higher in intermediate educational groups, whereas prevalence of 'drunkenness' was lower in intermediate educational groups. For women, a negative relation was found between educational level and 'psychological dependence'; prevalence of 'symptomatic drinking' was higher in the lowest educational group. Prevalence of problem drinking was not related to educational level in either sex. It is concluded that differences exist between educational levels with respect to abstinence, but only limited differences were found with respect to excessive drinking. Furthermore, there is evidence for higher prevalences of alcohol-related problems in lower educational levels, after controlling for differences in drinking behaviour, in both sexes.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The development of alcohol consumption and problem drinking in Rotterdam 1980-1994: more problem drinking amongst the young and the middle aged.

In 1980/1981 and in 1994, two surveys on problem drinking were conducted in the city of Rotterdam. This article presents data on changes in alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems between 1981 and 1994. Special attention has been paid to possible shifts in groups at risk and to shifts in the kind of problems experienced. It was found that, in 1994, compared to 1981, problem drinking had become more prevalent amongst the young and the middle aged.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Social climate on alcohol in Rotterdam, The Netherlands: public opinion on drinking behaviour and alcohol control measures.

Research was undertaken regarding the Dutch climate on alcohol in 1994 and results were compared with earlier findings. It was found that the social climate on alcohol in The Netherlands can be characterized by 'moderation'. Over the years, drinking without problems has become more acceptable (and is even encouraged at times) whereas excessive drinking and consequent problems still meet strong disapproval. Opinions concerning alcohol control measures mirror this attitude. Measures such as the restriction of drinking in public places and raising the age limits are endorsed by the public. However, more people are now against restrictions on the general availability of alcohol. Although drink-driving has decreased over the years, its prevalence is still high, especially among those who are most at risk.

Adult↗