Close X
Friday, November 1, 2024
ADVT 
Health

Second-Hand Drinking As Bad As Second-Hand Smoke

Darpan News Desk IANS, 02 Jul, 2019 08:29 PM

    Just like second-hand smoking, society needs to combat the second-hand effects of drinking as millions of people are suffering alcohol's harm because of someone else's drinking, warn a study led by an Indian-origin scientist.


    An analysis of US national survey data showed that some 21 per cent of women and 23 per cent of men -- an estimated 53 million adults -- experienced harm because of someone else's drinking in the last 12 months.


    These harms could be threats or harassment, ruined property or vandalism, physical aggression, harms related to driving or financial or family problems.


    The most common harm was threats or harassment, reported by 16 per cent of survey respondents, said researchers led by Madhabika B. Nayak of the Alcohol Research Group, a programme of the Public Health Institute in Oakland, California.


    The specific types of harm experienced differed by gender. Women were more likely to report financial and family problems, whereas ruined property, vandalism and physical aggression were more likely to be reported by men.


    There is "considerable risk for women from heavy, often male, drinkers in the household and, for men, from drinkers outside their family," wrote the authors in a paper published in Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.


    Additional factors, including age and the person's own drinking, were also important.


    People younger than age 25 had a higher risk of experiencing harm from someone else's drinking.


    Further, almost half of men and women who themselves were heavy drinkers said they had been harmed by someone else's drinking.


    Even people who drank but not heavily were at two to three times the risk of harassment, threats and driving-related harm compared with abstainers.


    "Control policies, such as alcohol pricing, taxation, reduced availability, and restricting advertising, may be the most effective ways to reduce not only alcohol consumption but also alcohol's harm to persons other than the drinker," said Nayak.

    MORE Health ARTICLES

    Florida Zika Cases Rise To 25 As Back-to-school Day Nears

      Florida's Department of Health says active transmission has been only happening in a 1-square-mile area encompassing Miami's Wynwood arts district.

    Florida Zika Cases Rise To 25 As Back-to-school Day Nears

    P.E.I. Hamlet Puts Faith In Stompin' Tom Centre, Honouring Its Most Famous Son

    P.E.I. Hamlet Puts Faith In Stompin' Tom Centre, Honouring Its Most Famous Son
    This P.E.I. hamlet has begun work on a gamble: That Canada still loves Stompin' Tom Connors as much as the country-folk legend loved it.

    P.E.I. Hamlet Puts Faith In Stompin' Tom Centre, Honouring Its Most Famous Son

    Nova Scotia Prison Negligent In Female Prisoners' Deaths, Lawsuits Claim

    Nova Scotia Prison Negligent In Female Prisoners' Deaths, Lawsuits Claim
    Veronica Park and Camille Strickland-Murphy, both from Newfoundland and Labrador, died months apart in 2015 at the Nova Institution for Women in Truro.

    Nova Scotia Prison Negligent In Female Prisoners' Deaths, Lawsuits Claim

    How Alcohol And Pot May Influence Your Sexual Behaviour

    While both alcohol and marijuana appear to potentially increase risk for unsafe sex, alcohol use may increase the likelihood of having sex with a stranger, leading to less post-sex satisfaction, suggests new research.

    How Alcohol And Pot May Influence Your Sexual Behaviour

    UK Advises Vitamin D Supplements for Everyone – Should Canada Follow?

    UK Advises Vitamin D Supplements for Everyone – Should Canada Follow?
    Much like the UK, Canada shares the same sunshine limitations, which means because of the northern latitude of both countries, vitamin D producing sunlight can only be captured by our skin between the months of May and October. This leaves Canadians and Brits in the cold and with declining vitamin D levels in the fall and winter.

    UK Advises Vitamin D Supplements for Everyone – Should Canada Follow?

    Happier Meal? McDonald's Nixing Some Unpalatable Ingredients

    Happier Meal? McDonald's Nixing Some Unpalatable Ingredients
    NEW YORK — McDonald's, which is trying to shake its image for serving processed junk food, said Monday it's eliminating some unpalatable ingredients from its most popular menu items.

    Happier Meal? McDonald's Nixing Some Unpalatable Ingredients