Alcohol use and knowledge of cardiovascular diseases among school children aged 11 to 18 years
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Background The harm alcohol abuse does to physical and mental health is well established. The perception about alcohol use belonging to cardiovascular (CVD) risk factors still require to be conveyed. Alcohol use during adolescence and young adulthood remains a prominent public health problem. Purpose This study aimed to examine the use of alcohol and perceived health effects of alcohol use to the cardiovascular system among school aged children in rural Crete and to identify changes in their beliefs after organized health promotion intervention. Methods In this cross-sectional study a total of 753 subjects (378 boys and 375 girls), aged 11–18 years, from a well-defined rural area of Crete were received a school based educational program, including role-playing, about the harms of alcohol and completed a validated alcohol use and CVDs knowledge questionnaire twice before the intervention and 2 months after to evaluate the effectiveness. Logistic regression was used to estimate the association. Results The mean age of the students was 14 years. Among the respondents only 28.3% denied the use of any alcohol, with thirty-three percent of them starting the use before the age of 11. Boys tend to start earlier than and drink more than girls (p<0.05). Reasons given by respondents for alcohol drinking involved: it makes them feel happy and high (49.5%); makes them feel relaxed (13.3%), while (17.5%) drinks because their best friends also do. The perceived health impacts of alcohol use included that alcohol use serve as risk factor for most chronic diseases, especially for cardiovascular diseases, (44% before the intervention and 51.2 % after) suggesting the usability of such intervention. Conclusions The use of alcohol in school children begins at 11, increasing with age. Evaluation of full-scale school-based and community-level interventions, including community enrollment and media advocacy aimed at supporting changes in policies on drinking, access, and sales of alcohol to young people, could be helpful in reducing the trend and the cumulative effects to their health and safety.
Authors: M Antonopoulou, K Chliveros, D Voyadzi, M Mpournelis, H Katsarou
Language: English
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4410482904