The Differences in Alcohol Use between Urban and Rural Students of Inner Mongolia Medical University, China

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the difference in alcohol use between urban and rural students of Inner Mongolia Medical University. Methods: A cross-sectional census was conducted on medical students on campus in 2013. We use multivariate logistic regression models to assess the factors associated with alcohol use. We further use chi-square test assess on differences in alcohol use between urban and rural people among significance factors in logistic regression models. Results: The prevalence of alcohol use among students in rural area was higher than that in urban area (p = 0.016). Alcohol use was associated with Gender, monthly expenses, residence, ethnic and faculty. The odds of alcohol use for Mongolia students were 1.139 times higher than that for Han students. The prevalence of alcohol consumption among students from pharmacy or Traditional Chinese Medicine and Mongolian Medicine faculties in rural area was higher than that among student in urban area (p = 0.03; p = 0.001). The prevalence of alcohol use among female students in rural area was higher than that among female students in urban area (p < 0.043). The proportion of alcohol use among students with <600 in rural area was higher than that among students in urban area (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Considering the differences in the prevalence of alcohol use between rural area and urban area, university administrators aiming at students from various regions develop various approaches.