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Illicit alcohol (moonshine) consumption in West Alabama revisited
1College of Community Health Sciences, Department of Psychiatry, University of Alabama School of Medicine, Tuscaloosa 35401, USA.
Background:
Lacy and Wintemitz in 1984 and Pegues in 1991 showed the presence of moonshine-related lead poisoning in Alabama.
Methods:
This study was a 10-year follow-up to the Lacy and Wintemitz study and used a similar inpatient retrospective chart review methodology. We looked at cases occurring between 1989 and 1992, which were positive for either a history of moonshine consumption or lead intoxication and cases suspicious for the diagnoses, based on the Lacy and Wintemitz epidemiologic parameters.
Results:
A declining, yet continuing, presence of moonshine-related lead intoxication still exists in west Alabama.
Conclusions:
The findings suggest the current at-risk patients may continue to be middle-aged to elderly men from rural settings. Furthermore, appropriate screening tests were not always ordered, which suggests a possible lack of awareness of the disorder by care givers.