Abstract

Purpose: A period of first increasing and then decreasing alcohol consumption in Finland in the 2000s offers an opportunity to scrutinize how population-level changes stem from varying developments in different population subgroups and drinking patterns. We examine 1) whose consumption changed in terms of age, sex, and level of consumption, and 2) how drinking patterns changed and whether the changes indicated steps toward a more Mediterranean drinking style.

Material and methods: The main data source was the Finnish Drinking Habits surveys of 2000, 2008, and 2016 of the general Finnish population aged 15–69 years (n = 6703, response rates 59–78%).

Results: Before 2008, consumption increased particularly among women and Finns aged 50+. After 2008, abstinence became more frequent and regular drinking less frequent. Additionally, heavy episodic drinking decreased, especially among men and in younger age groups. However, compared to earlier, similar levels of the volume of alcohol consumption did not result from a more Mediterranean drinking style, i.e. consuming smaller quantities more frequently. Finnish men continue to report very high maximum drinking amounts. The changes in both periods occurred as collective changes across the whole continuum of consumption from light to heavy drinkers.

Conclusions: Overall, our findings indicate that during the period of decreasing per capita alcohol consumption, both the frequency of drinking overall and of heavy episodic drinking decreased, but heavy episodic drinking is still prevalent.

摘要

目的： 2000 年代芬兰酒精消费量先增加后减少的时期提供了一个机会，可以仔细研究人口水平的变化如何源于不同人口亚群和饮酒模式的不同发展。我们研究了 1) 哪些人的消费在年龄、性别和消费水平方面发生了变化，以及 2) 饮酒方式如何变化以及这些变化是否表明朝着更地中海的饮酒方式迈出了一步。

材料和方法：主要数据来源是 2000 年、2008 年和 2016 年对芬兰 15-69 岁普通人群的饮酒习惯调查（n  = 6703，回复率为 59-78%）。

结果：在 2008 年之前，女性和 50 岁以上的芬兰人的消费量尤其增加。2008 年之后，禁欲变得更加频繁，而经常饮酒的频率降低了。此外，大量饮酒减少，特别是在男性和年轻群体中。然而，与早期相比，类似水平的酒精消费量并非来自更地中海的饮酒方式，即更频繁地消费较少量。芬兰男性继续报告最高饮酒量非常高。两个时期的变化发生在从轻度饮酒者到重度饮酒者的整个消费连续体中的集体变化。

结论：总体而言，我们的研究结果表明，在人均酒精消费量下降期间，总体饮酒频率和重度饮酒频率均有所下降，但重度偶发性饮酒仍普遍存在。