Patterns of Use in Alcohol Drinking and Betel Nuts Chewing among Workers of Myitnge Train Carriage and Wagons Workshop, Myanmar

Background: Alcohol drinking is a major concern and cause of morbidity and mortality all over the world. Historically, alcohol is still holding an important role in social interaction, relationship and bonding. Excessive amount of alcohol drinking is leading to more than 200 diseases and injury conditions including alcohol dependence, liver cirrhosis, cancers and injuries. Betel nut has been used widely throughout the history and deeply cultivated in some religious and some sociocultural events. Although betel nut chewing is not a problem for worldwide but still affects the Asia and Pacific regions such as Myanmar, Sri Lanka, India, Cambodia and Papua New Guinea. Betel nuts are defined and classified as carcinogen by World Health Organization (WHO). In Myanmar, there are still a lot of people who have both alcohol drinking and betel nuts chewing habits. In addition, people who have betel nuts chewing habits tend to drink alcohol too. Objective: This study identified the patterns of alcohol drinking and betel nuts chewing among workers of Myitnge Train Carriage and Wagons Workshop. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with representative sample of 320 workers selected from Myitnge Train Carriage and Wagons Workshop which is located in Mandalay. The researcher team conducted the study by face to face interview. Results: The mean age of the participants was 37.97± 10.42 years. The average age of the both alcohol drinking and betel nuts chewing onset was 25 years old. Almost all of the participants (98.1%) in this study have drunk beer. There were 80 participants (25%) who were binge-drinking in this study. Most participants drank alcohol at restaurants and bars. “Ninety Two”, which is one of the betel nuts type, have highest percentage among all betel nuts types with 208 participants (65%) have been consuming. There were 76 participants who chewed 5 packs and more betel buts in the past 12 months. They chewed betel nuts mostly at work and home. There were 121 participants who like to drink alcohol after they finished chewing betel nuts and 76 participants who like to chew after they have drunk alcohol. Conclusion: All the participants have both alcohol drinking and betel nuts chewing habits. Beer was the most popular alcohol beverages and one fourth of the participants in this study were binge drinking in this study. “92” was the most popular type of betel nuts among workers. Moreover, there were almost one fourth of the participants who were chewing 5 or more than 5 packs of betel nuts in this study. Those consumptions lead to the risk of health problem. Education programs for both alcohol drinking and betel nuts chewing habits should be done for participants who drink alcohol and chew betel nuts a lot in this study. In addition, studies about patterns of alcohol drinking and betel nuts chewing should be conducted more in workers in Myanmar since there are only a few studies about them.