Alcoholic Beverage Preference in Germany: An Age-Period-Cohort Analysis of Trends 1995-2018.

AIMS: Germany is experiencing a decline in alcohol consumption but not for every alcoholic beverage type. Given the differential health impacts of alcoholic beverage type, it is important to understand the drivers of these trends. We investigated: (a) temporal trends in beverage preference and (b) the effects of age, period and cohort on these trends. METHODS: Data came from nine waves (1995-2018; ntotal = 75,550) of the German Epidemiological Survey of Substance Abuse, a nationally representative household survey of individuals aged 18-59 years. The quantity of beer, wine, spirits and mixed drinks drank in the last 30 days was transformed into grammes of ethanol, and the beverage type preference was estimated as the proportion of total ethanol consumption. Fractional multinomial logit regression was applied to analyse the age, period and cohort effects on temporal trends of beverage preference by sex. RESULTS: The preference for spirits and mixed drinks decreased with increasing age, while the preference for wine increased with no age effect on beer. There was a general decrease in the preference for beer and an increase in the preference for wine among both sexes, with an additional increase in the preference for spirits in males. CONCLUSION: Trends in beverage preference were more related to individual ageing and changes in the whole population than to cohorts. With the continued reduction in alcohol consumption, the decreasing preference for beer and the growing preference for wine suggest a positive development. Trends of an increasing preference for spirits in males are of concern.

The Use of Psychoactive Substances in Germany.

BACKGROUND: Monitoring the use of psychoactive substances and substance-related problems in the population allows for the assessment of prevalence and associated health and social consequences. METHODS: The data are derived from the Epidemiological Survey of Substance Abuse (ESA) 2021 (n = 9046, 18-64 years). We estimated prevalence rates of the use of tobacco, alcohol, illegal drugs, and psychoactive medications, as well as the prevalence rates of their problematic use (indicating dependence) using screening instruments, and extrapolated the results to the resident population (N = 51 139 451). RESULTS: Alcohol was the most frequently used substance, with a 30-day prevalence of 70.5% (36.1 million people), followed by non-opioid analgesic drugs (47.4%; 24.2 million) and conventional tobacco products (22.7%; 11.6 million). E-cigarettes were used by 4.3% (2.2 million) and heat-not-burn products by 1.3% (665 000). Among illegal drugs (12-month prevalence), cannabis was the most frequently used (8.8%; 4.5 million), followed by cocaine/crack (1.6%; 818 000) and amphetamine (1.4%; 716 000). Rates of problematic use among the study participants were 17.6% for alcohol (9.0 million), 7.8% for tobacco (4.0 million), 5.7% for psychoactive medications (2.9 million), and 2.5% for cannabis (1.3 million). CONCLUSION: The consumption of psychoactive substances continues to be widespread in Germany. In view of the imminent legal changes, the high prevalence of cannabis use and its problematic use need to be taken into consideration.

[Age-specific trends in risky drinking in Germany: collectivity or polarisation?] / Altersspezifische Trends des risikoreichen Alkoholkonsums in Deutschland: Parallele oder unterschiedliche Verläufe?

INTRODUCTION: According to Skog's collectivity of drinking cultures theory, changes in alcohol consumption in all groups and strata of the population take place as parallel displacement in the distribution of consumption. The aims of the present paper are (1) to illustrate temporal trends in risky drinking and episodic heavy drinking by age and gender and (2) to examine whether the trends are parallel in all age groups ("collectivity") or diverge between age groups ("polarisation"). METHODS: The data are based on nine surveys of the Epidemiological Survey of Addiction (ESA) between 1995 and 2018. Risky drinking was defined as daily consumption of more than 12 g (for women) or 24 g (for men) of pure alcohol and episodic heavy drinking as consumption of five or more glasses of alcohol (about 70 g pure alcohol) on at least one day in the past 30 days. Linear regressions were calculated separately for age groups (18-29, 30-39, 40-49, and 50-59 years) and gender to predict the temporal effect on risky drinking or episodic heavy drinking and to test trends for differences. RESULTS: The temporal changes of risky drinking by age group show soft collectivity among men and polarisation among women. Trends in episodic heavy drinking indicate polarisation for both genders; while the prevalence increased in the youngest and oldest age groups, it decreased in all other age groups. DISCUSSION: In light of a general decrease, the increasing trends in risky drinking in specific groups indicate the need for strengthening behavioural prevention. For the positive development to continue and to avoid a trend reversal, public health measures such as alcohol tax increases and reductions of alcohol availability need to be intensified.