A study on clinical profile and nutritional status of alcoholics visiting tertiary care hospital

Introduction: Alcohol is the most common substance of abuse and it is responsible for 4.4% of the global burden of disease. Alcoholism has been associated with a large number of nutritional and metabolic disorders. Alcohol is a leading cause of alcohol abuse, organ damage and malnutrition. It is also one of the most preventable causes of death. So we conducted a cross-sectional study to study the clinical profile and nutritional status of alcoholics. Aims and Objectives: 1) To study the clinical profile of alcoholics visiting tertiary care center 2) To assess the nutritional status of alcoholics visiting tertiary care center Methodology: This cross sectional study was conducted at K S Hegde Charitable Hospital. A total 100 patients were included in the study. The information was obtained by patients aged 18 or more years was interviewed by using a structured questionnaire on demographic details, per capita income, alcohol consumption details, and dietdetails. The nutritional status will be assessed by direct method that is by calculating the BMI and waist hip ratio for allpatients. The collected data was analysed using SPSS version 16 Results: Out of 100 study population 98% were male. 54% of the study population belonged to 31-50 years age group and 22% belonged to 20-30 years. According to Kuppuswamy classification 52% lower middle class.73% had more than five year history of alcohol consumption. Anthropometric measurements showed that 43% of users were overweight, 15% of users were obese and 79% of male study population had central obesity Conclusion: The present study also showed significant correlation between quantity of alcohol consumption and waist to hip ratio. This might show significance in development cardiovascular diseases as they indirectly attribute to confounding risk factors. This can beas a means for early intervention and disease prevention.