Developments in alcohol consumption in reunited Germany.

Aims: To investigate changes in measures of frequency of general alcohol and beverage-specific alcohol drinking in eastern and western Germany between 1991 and 1998.

Design, Setting And Participants: Data come from two nationally representative health surveys, one conducted in 1991/1992 and the other in 1998. The earlier sample comprises two separate surveys, a 1991 western German survey (n = 5255) and a 1992 eastern German survey (n = 2211); the sample from 1998 contains information from 5463 people. The two 1991/1992 samples were merged to produce a single data set, comprising 7466 cases. The 1998 sample was limited to people aged 25-69 years, the age range of the 1991/1992 surveys.

Measurements: The surveys included measures of current drinking, current beverage-specific drinking, weekly drinking, daily drinking, heavy drinking and mean amount consumed per day.

Findings: The prevalence of almost all measures of drinking frequency declined in both regions of Germany and for both genders. Decreases were larger in the East and especially for frequency of current spirits drinking and daily drinking. Despite the decreases, western women consistently consumed at higher levels than eastern women, as did eastern men in relation to western men. Moreover, gender and regional differences within the country decreased.

Conclusions: Overall frequency of consumption has declined in Germany in the 1990s and drinking behaviour in the two regions has become more similar.