Survey of Lifestyle, Attitudes and Nutrition (SLÁN)

A representative cross-section of the adult population in the Republic of Ireland aged 18 years and over was surveyed for the first time in 1998 and again in 2002.

The sampling process used a national postal sample, generated randomly from the Republic of Ireland's electoral register and proportionately distributed based on health board population size and urban/rural breakdowns, so that each county in the Republic of Ireland was represented.

The total valid sample was 5,992, a response rate of 53.4%. The gender breakdown of the participants revealed that 41% (2,448) were male and 56% (3,526) female.

Questions focused on the topics of general health, smoking, alcohol, food and nutrition, exercise and accidents. The regional response rates were as follows:

Regional response to the SLÁN survey¹

Health Board	SLÁN 1998		SLÁN 2002		Census 1996
Health Board	Response (n)	Response (%)	Response (n)	Response (%)	Response (%)
East Coast Area (EHB 1998)	1,994	31	534	9	32
Mid Western	552	8	477	8	9
Midland	354	6	543	10	6
North Eastern	1,048	16	562	10	10
North Western	389	6	405	7	7
Northern Area	-	-	555	10	-
South Eastern	677	10	605	11	12
South West Area	-	-	710	12	-
Southern	852	13	799	14	15
Western	605	9	494	9	10

Findings on alcohol from the 1998 and 2002 surveys¹

	Male respondents (%)		Female respondents (%)		All respondents (%)
	SLÁN 1998	SLÁN 2002	SLÁN 1998	SLÁN 2002	SLÁN 1998	SLÁN 2002
Consumed alcohol in the previous month	82	83	70	74	76	78
Drank alcohol on one or two occasions in a typical week	56	53	65	59	61	57
Had an alcoholic drink on 5+ days of the week	14	15	11	13	14	13
Drank more than 6 drinks on an average drinking day	34.7	41.4	11.6	16.2	-	-
Average number of alcoholic drinks on a typical drinking occasion	6.6	6.6	4.2	3.7	-	-
Consumed more than recommended weekly limits for alcohol (men=21 units, women=14 units)*	27	30	21	22	-	-

*Only 2,966 people responded to this question

Reference

Health Promotion Unit, Department of Health and Children. The National Health and Lifestyle Surveys. Dublin: Centre for Health Promotion Studies, 2003. www.healthpromotion.ie/uploaded_docs/Slan03(PDF).pdf

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