Hazardous alcohol consumption and problem drinking in Norwegian and Russian women and men: The Tromsø Study 2015–2016 and the Know Your Heart study 2015–2018

Harmful use of alcohol is a worldwide public health concern. Cultural differences may affect responses to questions on alcohol problems, making international comparisons difficult. We aimed to compare self-reported alcohol consumption and problem drinking between Norwegian and Russian populations.

We used data from women and men aged 40–69 years participating in the Tromsø Study seventh survey (Tromsø7, N=17646, participation 65%), Tromsø (2015–2016), Norway, and the Know Your Heart study (KYH, N=4099, participation 51%), Arkhangelsk and Novosibirsk (2015–2018), Russia. Alcohol consumption and problem drinking were measured by the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) via questionnaires (Tromsø7) and interviews (KYH). We compared AUDIT scores and components between populations, by sex.

Non-drinking was more commonly reported in KYH compared with Tromsø7 (men 15.5% versus 4.9%, women 13.3% versus 7.3%). In men, hazardous consumption (41.4% versus 31.5%) and problem drinking (24.8% versus 19.6%) was higher in KYH compared with Tromsø7, but opposite for women (6.5% versus 12.0%, and 2.3% versus 5.8%). KYH men were less likely to report problem drinking behaviours than Tromsø7 men, with the exception of needing a drink first thing in the morning (13.2% versus 2.4%). KYH women consistently reported less consumption and problem drinking than Tromsø7 women.

We found between-study differences in hazardous drinking, but in men these were lower than suggested by differences in country-level statistics on alcohol consumption and alcohol-related health-harms. Study sample selection, stronger social desirability bias effects in the Russian samples, and cultural differences in responding could have affected the results.