Is Socioeconomic Status an Important Predictor of Alcohol use?: A cross-sectional study in an urban slum of Meerut

Background: Of all addictions like opiods, cannabinoids, sedatives, cocain, caffeine,hallucinogens, tobacco and other psychoactive drugs, it is the addiction to alcohol that remains the most important. Perhaps, this is because alcohol is probably the most commonly used drug. The main purpose of the indexed study is to acknowledge whether the socio-economic status affects the alcohol use or not as a step to curb this evil prevailing in the society. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the catchment area of UHTC (Urban Health and training Centre) among 324 males aged > 15 years. The modified Kuppuswamy scale was used to assess the socioeconomic status of the families. Data was analyzed by chisquare test using SPSS 19.0 version.Results: There were 3.1% of the current drinkers in the lower socioeconomic group as compared to 0.9% of the teetotallers. No statistically significant association was found between alcohol use and socioeconomic status. Conclusions: It can be very well concluded that income and socioeconomic status have no relationship with indulgence into alcohol use.