[Increase of alcohol, tobacco and drug consumption by 19-year-old men. A cross-sectional comparison 1971-1978-1982].

The consumption of alcohol, tobacco, hypnotics and pain killers has been compared in three populations of 19-year-old men drawn from the Canton of Zurich in 1971 (6315), 1978 (3802) and 1982 (7341). The percentage of non-consumers in all substances had risen in 1982 above earlier values. The (mean) consumption of tobacco fell from 9.4 g in 1971 to 6.4 g tobacco/day in 1982, though the average cigarette consumption (of the cigarette smokers) only fell from 15.7 to 15.2 cigarettes/day. Alcohol consumption (beer, wine, spirits) decreased slightly from 5.3 glasses/week (mean 1978) to 5.0 glasses/week (mean 1982). These results are compared with investigations in other Swiss populations.