A 1992 study of Finnish drinking habits that utilised the AUDIT questionnaire determined that 22 per cent of males (26 per cent of men aged 30-49) who completed the AUDIT displayed hazardous alcohol consumption (alcohol consumption indicative of an increased risk of harmful consequences for the user or others) and 42 per cent usually drank seven or more units of alcohol per session (item 2), and concluded that in the Finnish culture there was an intoxication-seeking nature to alcohol consumption [27]. In 2000, the 12-month prevalence of alcohol dependence and alcohol use disorders in a representative sample of male Finnish adults (>30 years) were 6.5 per cent and 7.3 per cent, respectively [28]. In this study, 15.9 per cent of subjects that were not recruited from alcoholism treatment facilities had experienced hazardous or harmful alcohol consumption in the previous year (AUDIT score of 12-19), which is similar to the findings of Holmila [27], while 31.8 per cent were categorised as problem drinkers (AUDIT score ≥ 20). It should be noted, however, that alcohol-dependent and control drinkers were both specifically recruited in the advertisement campaign and, therefore, the problem-drinking group may have contained a percentage of alcohol-dependent individuals.
