Skilled tradespeople in the United Kingdom are most likely to be associated with heavy drinking, reports research published in the open access journal BMC Public Health this week. Medical practitioners had among the lowest heavy drinking rates.
The findings could be used to help target public health or work-based interventions aiming to reduce heavy drinking. However, writes MedicalBrief, the study draws on data that is a decade old; behaviours may have changed somewhat.
The research analysed data on more than 100,000 adults and found that working in certain occupations may be associated with a higher likelihood of heavy drinking among people aged between 40 and 69 years.
According to BMC Public Health material published on 24 February 2021:
Researchers at the University of Liverpool found that jobs classified as skilled trade occupations, such as construction and manufacturing jobs, were most likely to be associated with heavy drinking while jobs broadly categorised as professional occupations, for example doctors and teachers, were associated with a lower likelihood of heavy drinking.
The occupations associated with the highest rates of heavy drinking in the UK were publicans and managers of licenced premises, plasterers and industrial cleaning process occupations, including cleaners of industrial premises.
The occupations associated with the lowest rates of heavy drinking were clergy, physicists, geologists and meteorologists, and medical practitioners.
Andrew Thompson, the corresponding author, said: “Heavy alcohol consumption increases the risk of physical and mental harm and by understanding which occupations are associated with heavy drinking, we can better target resources and interventions.
“Our research provides insight for policymakers and employers regarding which sectors may have the highest rates of heavy alcohol consumption,” he told BMC Public Health.
To examine associations between occupation and alcohol consumption, the authors analysed data on 100,817 adults from across the UK who were 55 years old on average and recruited to the UK Biobank between 2006 and 2010.
Participants reported their weekly or monthly alcohol intake and occupation.
Heavy drinkers were defined as women consuming more than 35 UK units of alcohol per week and men consuming more than 50 units per week. In the UK, one unit of alcohol is defined as 10 millilitres (eight grams) of pure alcohol and typical servings of common alcoholic drinks, such as a 175 millilitre glass of wine or a pint of beer, contain one to three units of alcohol.
Gender difference
The authors found that associations between occupation and heavy drinking differed in men and women.
For men, the jobs that were most likely to be associated with heavy drinking were skilled trade occupations, while jobs classified as managers and senior officials were most likely to be associated with heavy drinking for women.
The occupations associated with the lowest rates of heavy drinking for men were clergy, medical practitioners and town planners, compared with school secretaries, biological scientists, biochemists and physiotherapists for women.
Andrew Thompson said: “The observed differences for men and women in associations between occupations and heavy drinking could indicate how work environments, along with gender and other complex factors, can influence relationships with alcohol.
“Workplace-based interventions aiming to address alcohol consumption in occupations where heavy drinking is prevalent could benefit both individuals and the wider economy by improving employee wellbeing and by indirectly increasing productivity.”
The authors caution that due to the cross-sectional nature of the study, it was not possible to establish a causal relationship between alcohol consumption and occupation. Additionally, as the data was collected between 2006 and 2010, it is unknown whether changes in drinking behaviours have occurred since then.
Study details
Associations between occupation and heavy alcohol consumption in UK adults aged 40–69 years: a cross-sectional study using the UK Biobank
Dr Andrew Thompson and Professor Sir Munir Pirmohamed
Author affiliations
Wolfson Centre for Personalised Medicine, Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology at the University of Liverpool, UK; MRC Centre for Drug Safety Science, Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology at the University of Liverpool, UK; and the Liverpool Centre for Alcohol Research at the University of Liverpool, UK.
Published in BMC Public Health on 24 February 2021.
Abstract
Background
Understanding the relationship between occupation and alcohol use offers opportunities to provide health promotion programmes based on evidence of need. We aimed to determine associations between occupation and heavy alcohol consumption in working individuals aged 40–69 years.
Methods
A cross-sectional study was conducted using 100,817 people from the UK Biobank: 17,907 participants categorised as heavy drinkers, defined as > 35 units/week for women and > 50 units/week for men, and 82,910 drinking controls. Prevalence ratios (PRs) and 95% CIs were calculated for gender-specific heavy drinking in 353 occupations using Standard Occupational Classification, V.2000.
Results
Seventy-seven occupations were associated with level of alcohol consumption in drinkers. The largest ratios for heavy drinkers were observed for publicans and managers of licenced premises (PR = 2.81, 95%CI 2.52–3.14); industrial cleaning process occupations (PR = 2.09, 1.33–3.28); and plasterers (PR = 2.07, 1.66–2.59). Clergy (PR = 0.20, 0.13–0.32); physicists, geologists and meteorologists (PR = 0.40, 0.25–0.65); and medical practitioners (PR = 0.40, 0.32–0.50) were least likely to be heavy drinkers. There was evidence of gender-specific outcomes with the proportion of jobs associated with heavy drinking accounted for by skilled trade occupations being 0.44 for males and 0.05 for females, and 0.10 for males and 0.40 for females when considering managers and senior officials.
Conclusions
In the largest study of its kind, we found evidence for associations between a wider variety of occupations and the risk of heavy alcohol consumption than identified previously, particularly in females, although causality cannot be assumed. These results help determine which jobs and broader employment sectors may benefit most from prevention programmes.
[link url="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/bc-com021921.php"]BMC material in Eurekalert – Certain occupations may be associated with higher rates of heavy drinking (Open access)[/link]
[link url="https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10208-x"]BMC Public Health article – Associations between occupation and heavy alcohol consumption in UK adults aged 40–69 years: a cross-sectional study using the UK Biobank (Open access)[/link]
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