Purpose: To examine the relationship between hazardous drinking behavior measured by AUDIT and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in male manufacturing workers. Methods and Subjects: Two thousand nine hundred and seventy eight male workers (age:20-67) who undertook health checkup and answered AUDIT questionnaire were included in the final analysis. The subjects were categorized into three groups by AUDIT score: low risk drinking group:0-7, middle risk drinking group:8-14, and high risk drinking group>15. The subjects were also categorized into three groups in alcohol consumption domain and two groups in alcohol related problems by subgroup of AUDIT. Results: Compared with low risk hazardous alcohol drinking group, the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) of having MetS were1.50 (1.05-2.92) for middle risk hazardous drinking group and 1.75 (1.03-2.18) for high risk drinking group after adjusted for confounding factors. The ORs of alcohol consumption domain were 1.06 (0.73-1.55), for middle risk group, 1.61 (1.10-2.43) for high risk group. The ORs of alcohol related problems domain was 1.46 (1.05-2.03) in high risk group. Conclusion: Hazardous drinking measured by AUDIT and its two structure domain (alcohol consumption and alcohol related problems) were associated with MetS in Japanese male manufacturing workers.
