[Alcohol drinking patterns among policemen in Shiga, Kyoto, Yamaguchi and Okinawa prefectures]

Alcohol drinking patterns among policemen in Shiga, Kyoto, Yamaguchi and Okinawa prefectures were surveyed using a questionnaire on alcohol drinking during 1987-88. The responses from 1812 (male) subjects (average age of 36) were compared to a similar survey in 1975-79. Drinkers accounted for 91.3% of all subjects, of which 6.6% drank daily, 65.6% drank more than once a week, 6.5% usually did not drink at all and 2.1% were abstainers. The percentage of daily drinkers decreased during the 10 years (13.5%) though the total number of drinkers slightly increased nationwide. Preferred beverages were, beer 39.9%, whisky 21.4% Japanese sake 17.9%, Japanese shochu 11.0%. The percentage of beer and Japanese shochu drinkers increased and that of Japanese sake decreased during the ten-year period. However, Japanese sake was the second most popular beverage in Shiga, Kyoto and Yamaguchi prefectures. In Okinawa, awamori (a strong kind of shochu) was the favorite. Especially, drinkers aged over 50 in Okinawa preferred awamori rather than beer. Though drinking frequency at home (banshaku) and parties (enkai) did not change, the consumption volume decreased during the ten-year period. In In particular, young drinkers drank less frequently at home. Intake increased with age. Our results indicate that drinking frequency and volume decreased during the ten-year period. In general, drinking frequency and volume is reported to have increased. This difference might be related to the character of a policeman's occupation.