A prospective study of risk drinking: At risk for what?

Abstract

Data from two waves of a nationally representative U.S. population sample were used to link frequency of risk drinking in the year preceding the Wave 1 interview with the incidence or occurrence of various adverse outcomes in the approximately 3-year period between the two interviews (n = 22,245 Wave 1 drinkers who were reinterviewed at Wave 2). Risk drinking was defined as consuming the equivalent of 5+ standard drinks in a day for men and the equivalent of 4 + standard drinks in a day for women. Controls included sociodemographic and health characteristics, mean quantity of drinks consumed on risk drinking days and average volume of intake on non-risk drinking days. The odds of nonhierarchical alcohol abuse and dependence, initiation of smoking and incidence of nicotine dependence were increased at all frequencies of risk drinking and showed a fairly continuous increase in magnitude with increasing frequency, reaching OR of 3.03 -7.23 for daily/near daily risk drinking. The incidence of liver disease was strongly increased among weekly or more frequent risk drinkers (OR = 2.78 -4.76). The odds of social harm, drug use and drug dependence were increased among daily/near daily risk drinkers (OR = 1.61 -2.63), and the likelihood of marital disruption and drivers license revocation showed near-significant increases at all frequencies of risk drinking. Frequency of risk drinking interacted with volume of intake on nonrisk drinking days in predicting alcohol abuse and illicit drug use and with duration of drinking in predicting alcohol dependence. Risk drinking poses a threat of many types of harm, both directly and indirectly through its association with smoking initiation and nicotine dependence. These findings have illustrative value for prevention programs, and they indicate that frequent risk drinker is a strong marker for alcoholism.

Independent and combined associations of risky single-occasion drinking and drinking volume with alcohol use disorder: Evidence from a sample of young Swiss men

“…Only a few studies have used a prospective design and adjusted for DV -the results of this study were in accordance with these studies (Bonomo et al, 2004;Dawson et al, 2008;Viner and Taylor, 2007).…”

“…The independent effect of RSOD on AUD, DV is often not controlled for when studying the effect of RSOD . RSOD, however, is commonly associated with a higher level of alcohol intake (Dawson et al, 2008). Since most studies did not adjust for DV, it is therefore unclear whether the findings provided information about RSOD or about large DV.…”

Sex‐Specific Associations Between Alcohol Consumption and Incidence of Hypertension: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis of Cohort Studies

“…Thus, although the overall dose‐response relationship would not be affected, there may be some misestimation of the RRs of the levels of drinking (eg, previous work64). Finally, although patterns of drinking, in particular irregular heavy drinking occasions, have been shown to impact on BP and risk of hypertension,65 we could not find enough cohort studies meeting our inclusion criteria to quantify this effect by meta‐analysis.…”

Comorbidities of mental and behavioral disorders in chemically dependent patients in different periods of abstinence

“…PAS use has been found to negatively affect conjugal relationships, with higher risks of violent behavior in couples, resulting in separations 21 . The large number of unemployed individuals or informal workers, with a personal income predominantly lower than one minimum wage, and their low level of education could reflect the social impairment of these patients, who show higher risks of psychosocial problems such as school and work negligence and difficulties in assuming responsibilities 21 . The low levels of education and financial income could also be due to characteristics of the patients who usually seek the public he alth care network, which serves the portion of the population that does not have access to any other type of health care.…”