Alcohol consumption and its association with physical activity among school adolescents

Alcohol consumption and physical activity among school adolescents

Abstract

Objective: To verify the prevalence of alcohol consumption and its association with physical activity in school adolescents in a city in the interior of Pernambuco. Methodology: This is an epidemiological, school-based, descriptive and correlational study with a cross-sectional design, conducted with adolescents aged between 12 and 17 years old, enrolled in elementary and high school in public schools in the city of Petrolina. The adolescents were submitted to sociodemographic and risk behavior surveys, which consisted of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) questionnaire. The prevalence and possible associations were analyzed in multiple models of binary logistic regression, between the dependent variables alcohol consumption and binge-drinking episode in the last 30 days with the other variables. The odds ratio (OR) and the 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Results: 1179 adolescents were included in the final analysis, 50.9% reported having used alcohol once in their lives, of which 73% had their first contact with alcohol before the age of 15, 49.6% had consumed it in the last 30 days and 34.3% had episodes of drunkenness. Only 16.4% of the participants reported being physically active. Physical activity showed a positive association with current alcohol consumption (OR = 1.67 [1.11 - 2.52]) and binge drinking episodes (OR = 1.88 [1.03 - 3.33]). Conclusion: It can be concluded that the rates of alcohol consumption and drinking were high and showed a positive association with the practice of current physical activity, with active adolescents more likely to consume alcohol.