Emerging adults – those aged 18 to 24 years –who experience pain are more likely to engage in high-risk patterns of alcohol use such as binge drinking. Anxiety caused by pain may be what motivates unhealthy coping strategies such as excessive drinking as a form of escape/avoidance. These results and others will be shared at the 46th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcohol (RSA) in Bellevue, Washington.
Hangovers are common among people who drink alcohol. Previous research showing that a hangover’s combination of both mental and physical misery can occur after a single episode of alcohol consumption also revealed that a rapid breakdown of alcohol into acetaldehyde is associated with less severe hangovers. Findings from an investigation of the metabolic influence of oral microbiota on hangover severity will be shared at the 46th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcohol (RSA) in Bellevue, Washington.
Alcohol craving is associated with relapse following alcohol use disorder (AUD) treatment. A new study is the first to examine how distinct experiences of interpersonal racial discrimination contribute to elevated alcohol craving. Findings will be shared at the 46th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcohol (RSA) in Bellevue, Washington.
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a common neuropsychiatric disorder marked by neuropsychological deficits and neurocircuitry brain damage that can lead to serious negative consequences for family, work, and personal well-being. Researchers will share their published findings on the adverse effects of AUD on the brain and its interaction with aging and postural instability at the 46th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcohol (RSA) in Bellevue, Washington.
Adolescent rats exposed to alcohol vapor experience persistent sleep disruption after withdrawal, as measured by Fitbit-like tracking devices, a new study has shown. The findings, published in Alcohol: Clinical & Experimental Research, provide insight into the relationship between sleep disturbance and heavy drinking in humans. Although adolescents and young adults may be particularly affected by sleep disturbances associated with drinking, little is known about that connection or its mechanisms. Plausibly, the link between disrupted circadian rhythm and substance use may operate in both directions; for example, irregular sleep cycles, including daytime sleepiness, have been implicated in teen substance use. Daytime sleepiness and disrupted activity in humans can be measured using wearable tracking devices, complementing EEG metrics taken at night.
People who have a pattern of heavy drinking showed less impairment than light drinkers after drinking similar amounts of alcohol — yet this difference depends largely on how much time has elapsed after drinking and may only be evident at moderate intoxication. A study published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research found that people who exceed drinking an amount of alcohol that is typical for them showed substantial impairment. And, when heavy drinkers and lighter drinkers were similarly impaired, the heavy drinkers perceived themselves to be less impaired, which may lead to risky decisions.
Changes in alcohol consumption tend to accompany changes in symptoms of depression, according to a study published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research.
Increased alcohol use among pregnant and postpartum women during the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with autonomic nervous system dysregulation, known to negatively affect resilience to change and further exacerbate the risk of stress-related mental health disorders and substance use, a new study suggests. The findings, although preliminary, underline the potential for a new clinical biomarker and novel personalized mobile health apps in facilitating treatment interventions. Previous research linked the pandemic to increased stress levels and drinking, including in pregnant and postpartum women. Alcohol use, and stress-related conditions such as depression and anxiety, are associated with dysregulation in the feedback loop between the body and the brain. This process involves the peripheral autonomic nervous system, which regulates the heartbeat. Healthy, resilient people tend to have higher heart rate variability than people with stress and substance use disorders. Heart rate variab
The presence of peers is a key prompt for alcohol cravings among young people, according to a new study in Alcohol: Clinical & Experimental Research. When certain settings, people, or items—a bar, a friend, a glass—are paired with alcohol, they can become conditioned cues, eliciting drinking cravings. These learned reactions are associated with alcohol use disorder (AUD), treatment outcomes, and relapse. Adolescents and emerging adults are particularly susceptible to peer influence. In real-world settings, studies have found that the presence of peers predicts young people’s intensifying drinking cravings at the moment. In laboratory studies, however, peer influence is largely absent, potentially limiting the usefulness of their findings. Better understanding peers as alcohol cues could inform more effective AUD prevention and treatment programs. For the current study, researchers from Brown University, RI, evaluated alcohol cravings among youth in the human laboratory, using drinking-
People who reported feeling more affective empathy on a given day than was typical for them were likely to drink more than usual, according to a study published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research. Notably, these daily shifts in affective empathy levels were associated with the number of drinks consumed even after controlling for daily shifts in positive and negative emotions. This means that the association between affective empathy and alcohol use was not explained by shifts in emotional states. Overall, the findings indicate that changes in an individual’s affective empathy on a day-to-day basis may be important to understand alcohol use.
Living in a neighborhood with bars or government-run alcohol outlets may increase suicidal behavior among young adults, especially men and those with elevated genetic liability for attempting suicide, a new study suggests. The paper, in Alcohol: Clinical & Experimental Research, is the latest attempt to clarify the link between alcohol accessibility and suicidal behavior. This complex relationship is proving difficult to unravel. Both acute drinking and alcohol use disorder are associated with increased suicide risk, potentially because of behavioral inhibition, depressed mood, or aggression. The link between heavy drinking and suicidal behavior likely reflects, in part, genetic and environmental influences, including the proximity of alcohol outlets. Research has been inconclusive, however. For the new study, drawing on the experiences of hundreds of thousands of individuals in Sweden, investigators explored the association between neighborhood alcohol outlets and suicide attempts and
Working the night shift or binge drinking may double the risk of COVID-19 infection, according to a study of nurses published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research. Both alcohol misuse and night shift work have been shown to impact sleep and promote inflammation in the body, which has been linked to COVID disease severity. The findings from this study strongly suggest that alcohol and circadian misalignment contribute to the development of COVID disease in people exposed to the virus.
People with anxiety or major depressive disorders experience more alcohol-related symptoms and problems than people without those disorders, even at the same levels of drinking, according to a large study. This finding might help to explain why those who develop an anxiety or mood disorder are at heightened risk of alcohol use disorder (AUD).
People who first experience problems with alcohol after the age of 60 may have better mental health functioning than those whose drinking problems start sooner, and the benefits of alcohol treatment are not conditional on when hazardous drinking began, a new study suggests.
People who live in countries with more stringent alcohol policies drank less than people in countries with less strict policies, according to a large multi-country analysis published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research. The more stringent policies were associated with reduced drinking overall and showed more significant associations in drinkers aged 18 to 24 and those with 13 or fewer years of education. The findings suggest that countries could reduce adverse health consequences by adopting cost-effective alcohol policies.
A tool allowing research participants to self-identify beyond binary categories of male and female performed well in a study of college student drinking. The study, published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research, demonstrates a method to conduct research that is more inclusive of the increasing number of individuals identifying as transgender, nonbinary, and other genders who may be at higher risk for alcohol use disorders. The study encourages the development of future research instruments that capture a broader diversity of genders in order to promote a more representative body of scientific knowledge and a more complete understanding of health influences and outcomes.
Fluctuating impulsivity in college students is linked to increased positive thoughts about alcohol, heavier drinking, and more negative consequences, a new study suggests—information that could inform more effective intervention programs to reduce alcohol harm. Almost a third of young adults report binge drinking in the past month, and 16% meet criteria for alcohol use disorder in the past year. Impulsivity, a tendency to act rashly without considering consequences, is known to be associated with heavier drinking. A predictive behavioral model theorizes that impulsive people are particularly predisposed to certain beliefs about alcohol and that this influences their consumption. These beliefs—alcohol expectancies—determine how individuals perceive the positive and negative effects of drinking. Positive expectancies (e.g., increased sociability) are linked to higher alcohol use, while negative expectancies (e.g., becoming impaired) are thought to restrain drinking behavior. Recent resea
Adults with Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) seeking to moderate their drinking respond differently to interventions depending on their age, a new study suggests.
Newly arrived immigrants drank decreasing amounts of alcohol in their first two years in the United States, according to a study of Latino immigrants living in Miami-Dade County in Florida.
A computer-based intervention associated with reduced binge drinking episodes among high school students could yield a cost savings of eight thousand euros, according to a Spanish study published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research. The study found the computer-based intervention cost-effective, resulting in societal savings of €8,000 for each binge drinking episode averted. Computer and web-based interventions can potentially reach a far larger number of students than face-to-face screening and intervention.
Prazosin, a medication FDA-approved for hypertension and used off-label for alcohol use disorder, may help prevent drinking relapse in people with cardiovascular or behavioral symptoms of alcohol withdrawal, according to a new study involving active-duty soldiers.
A new screening instrument has the potential to more accurately identify fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), reducing missed and erroneous diagnoses in affected children and facilitating treatment and support, a new study suggests. Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is a known cause of birth and growth defects and neurobehavioral issues.
A newly published animal study found that chronic alcohol consumption may create conditions in the body that can facilitate infection by SARS-CoV2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease. The study, published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research, found that chronic alcohol use increased the levels of an enzyme that helps the virus enter the cells and, therefore, may increase the risk for COVID-19.
Doctors who drink more are less likely to offer screening and counseling about alcohol use to their patients. According to a systematic review of research published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research, frequency and quantity of health care providers’ alcohol consumption were inversely associated with their clinical practices to help patients reduce unhealthy alcohol use. Doctors who drank three days a week or more were less likely to screen their patients for alcohol use, and those who drank larger quantities of alcohol offered less screening and counseling to their patients about unhealthy alcohol use.
For teens at elevated risk of developing alcohol use disorder (AUD), close relationships with parents can help mitigate their genetic and environmental vulnerability, a new study suggests. The offspring of people with AUD are four times more likely than others to develop the disorder. Increasing evidence suggests that this heritable risk may be either amplified or mitigated by the quality of parenting.
People with psychiatric vulnerabilities that increase their risk of misusing alcohol appear more likely to drink heavily around the time of ovulation, especially on weekends, a new study suggests.
The transition to telehealth-based care at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic was followed by an increase in initiation of and engagement with specialty alcohol treatment, according to a study of health records at one large U.S. health system. The study, published in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, found the greatest increases in odds of initiating treatment were among 18- to 34-year-olds, a group that has historically been less likely to seek treatment for alcohol problems. Notably, the transition to telehealth did not appear to worsen racial and ethnic disparities in treatment for alcohol problems and may have facilitated treatment for specific populations. The findings provide timely considerations for structuring post-pandemic models of health care for alcohol use problems.
Fathers who acknowledge binge drinking are less involved with their children, according to new research in several countries that have traditionally been understudied. Globally, men are increasingly involved in children’s development. The latest analysis, in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, explores fathers’ binge drinking in relation to the quality of their parenting, and suggests that preventing or treating heavy alcohol use among fathers may have broad benefits for families. Previous studies around the world have flagged the harms of parents’ problematic alcohol use on family relationships and children’s development. Paternal alcohol use disorder, depression, and marital satisfaction are known to be important for parenting. Heavy drinking, which is related to notions of masculinity, has been linked across cultures to more punitive parenting, child abuse and neglect, and intimate partner violence. Little is known about how heavy alcohol use impacts fathers’ relationships
Patients in the Emergency Room (ER) should be blood-tested for hazardous drinking rather than evaluated by questionnaires alone, according to a new study comparing alcohol use screening methods. A sizeable minority of patients attend the ER for alcohol-related reasons (12–15% in the UK). That proportion is growing, a US study has found. The ER offers valuable opportunities to identify hazardous drinking and intervene with treatments that can help patients reduce their alcohol use. This requires efficiently and reliably screening ER patients for risky consumption. Validated methods include the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) — and its shorter version, AUDIT-C —which are among the most frequently used screening questionnaires. Another, the Timeline Followback Questionnaire (TLFB), is a retrospective self-administered survey estimating daily alcohol consumption over a specific prior period. In contrast, phosphatidylethanol (PEth), a metabolite of ethanol, is a direct and
An analysis of combined pharmacotherapy for reducing drinking and smoking validated findings that measuring reductions in the amount of drinking, not just abstinence, was an effective outcome for alcohol medication trials.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, college students drinking outside the home or at home alone experienced a wider range of drinking consequences compared to those more frequently drinking at home with others, either in-person or virtually, according to a new study. Drinking at home also carried considerable risk. The findings, published in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, suggest that intervention and prevention efforts may be more effectively tailored by considering the contexts in which students are drinking.
State laws designed to prevent dangerous drinking behaviors do not appear to have that effect, according to a study published in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. Alcohol exclusion laws allow insurance companies to deny payment for injuries caused by alcohol consumption and were adopted more than seventy years ago to prevent problem drinking and related insurance costs. But a rigorous analysis of drinking behaviors found no evidence that repealing these laws increases alcohol consumption or binge drinking. Previous reports have found these laws to be a barrier to screening and treatment for alcohol issues, resulting in billions of dollars in added healthcare costs.
Chronic alcohol misuse including Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), is an overlooked risk factor for severe or fatal COVID-19, according to a review of medical and scientific studies.
Teens who perceived their friends posted alcohol-related content on social media reported drinking more than those who weren’t exposed to such posts, a new study has found. In addition, adolescents overestimated the frequency of their peers’ alcohol-related posts online, a misperception that potentially shaped their drinking. Perceptions of peers’ alcohol use, even if inaccurate, generate a social norm — a standard that tends to guide human behavior. Adolescents are especially susceptible to peer influence. Previous research has highlighted teens’ exaggerated perceptions of peers’ drinking in raising the risk for their alcohol use. Social media may amplify this effect, with its unique features (“likes” and sharing) that potentially create the illusion of widespread drinking. A discrepancy between a teen’s own alcohol-related posting and their perception of peers’ posting may be linked to an increased willingness to drink, but the issue is under-researched. The new study, in Alcoholism:
Motives for drinking — to party, to conform, to cope, or to feel good — are consistent through young adulthood, and genes play a role in how those motives influence alcohol use, a new study of college students suggests. Understanding the mechanisms linking genetic variants to differences in drinking behaviors could present opportunities for predicting individuals’ vulnerability to Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) and intervening to prevent it. Genetic factors are responsible for about 50% of individual risk of AUD. Much of how that heritability functions is unexplained, however. The relationship between genes and drinking behavior is complex, involving thousands of genetic variants that each have small effects. Critical factors known as endophenotypes, or intermediary phenotypes, affect how an individual’s genetic predisposition manifests as a behavioral trait. For the new study in Alcoholism: Clinical & Environmental Research, investigators sought to determine whether drinking motives are o
American Indian (AI) adolescents who expect to relate strongly to their racial culture in the future are less likely than their peers to experience negative alcohol outcomes - like fighting with friends, being arrested, and memory gaps - even if they do not relate strongly to their culture now, a new study suggests. Although AI communities overall have higher rates of abstention from alcohol than other racial groups, AI teens are particularly vulnerable to drinking and its negative consequences. This may be related to cultural identity, which is known to influence substance use.
A new algorithm has been found to identify images of alcohol in electronic media with a high degree of accuracy. Possible applications for this algorithm include public health research to quantify exposure to images of alcohol and mobile or web applications to allow individuals to filter unwanted exposure to online alcohol advertising or alcohol-related content. The development and testing of the algorithm are described in a paper published in the October issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. The algorithm has been made publicly available at no charge.
Front-loading alcohol, or drinking faster at the outset of a drinking session, may be associated with harmful patterns which can lead to alcohol use disorders and should be studied, according to the authors of an analysis published in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. The analysis suggests increasing evidence that front-loading drinking behavior is driven by reward effects more than by other factors, such as metabolic tolerance or negative reinforcement.
Teen use of alcohol and alcohol in combination with cannabis is decreasing, but use by girls is decreasing more slowly than it is for boys, according to a study published in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. And, rates of cannabis use among teens who didn’t use alcohol, which more than doubled in the last decade, are increasing more rapidly in female students than in their male counterparts. Despite the declines in alcohol use, teen alcohol use remains high, and far more prevalent than cannabis use. The simultaneous use of cannabis and alcohol amplifies the health risks for teens, including risk of intoxication, injury, impairment and other short- and long-term consequences for adolescents. As one in five students reports simultaneously using both substances, continued public health efforts to reduce teen alcohol and cannabis use, as well as interventions specifically aimed at female students, are important.
Low-income children with special needs or socioemotional problems who moved to more advantaged neighborhoods were less likely to ever use alcohol than those who remained in public housing, according to a study just published in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. Researchers also found reduced alcohol use among the mothers of some of these children. The study compared alcohol use patterns in low-income families who received different kinds of housing support. The findings point to a need for programs and policies to extend the beneficial effects of housing mobility and voucher programs to all families.
Alcohol misuse in adolescence affects physical health and life satisfaction over multiple decades, outcomes that are driven by ongoing alcohol problems, a new study has found. The link between teen drinking and poor health into the 30s held even after accounting for the effects of nature (genes) and nurture (early family environments). Problematic drinking in adolescence is known to be linked to ongoing health and life struggles. Better understanding this process could inform early targeted interventions that may prevent or ameliorate long-term negative consequences. The new study, in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, sought to clarify the pathways — direct or indirect — by which teen drinking has such far-reaching effects. Investigators explored participants’ alcohol misuse in adolescence and early adulthood, and physical health and life satisfaction in their mid-30s. The study sample was restricted to twins, allowing for consideration of shared genetic and environmental f
Young children’s exposure to their mothers’ and fathers’ drinking influences their perceptions of who consumes alcohol, with “vast implications” for their own future use, a new study suggests. The study, in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, provides compelling evidence of intergenerational transmission of drinking behaviors to children, including gender-based perceptions — the first time these effects have been demonstrated in children aged 4–8. Children’s exposure to the use of alcohol around them is known to shape their perceptions of “typical” alcohol consumption (norms). Those perceptions influence drinking initiation, usually as adolescents, and alcohol consumption over time. Recent research has shown that how much parents drink in general is less relevant in this regard than their alcohol use in the presence of children. For the new study, investigators explored how exposure to mothers’ and fathers’ drinking influences young children’s perceptions of alcohol-related n
Drinkers’ mood shifts and exposure to alcohol-related cues — beer cans, bars, and drinking buddies — contribute to alcohol cravings in opposite ways for men and women, a new study suggests. The findings have implications for how men and women develop dangerous drinking habits and ways that this might be prevented or treated. Various theories link alcohol use to positive and negative emotions: drinking to either enhance good mood or cope with stress, potentially becoming a self-reinforcing cycle. Studies have yielded mixed findings, however, suggesting that mood interacts with subconscious cognitive processes to prompt alcohol-seeking.
During the pandemic, on days that adults felt particularly lonely or when lockdown restrictions were more limiting, they used more drugs (other than cannabis), a new study suggests.
The typical rise and fall of alcohol and cannabis consumption from late adolescence into adulthood does not hold for people with certain personality traits, a new study suggests. Among individuals who used both alcohol and cannabis, those with high impulsivity as adolescents showed a different developmental trajectory from their peers, according to a study in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research — the first to assess co-use of the two substances well into adulthood. Alcohol and cannabis are the two most frequently used psychotropic drugs in the US. High use is associated with negative health outcomes, particularly when the two substances are used concurrently or simultaneously. Little is known about the developmental course of alcohol and cannabis co-use into adulthood and whether it is influenced by sensation seeking and reduced conscientiousness, markers of disinhibition associated with hazardous substance use. Researchers at Arizona State University explored whether those pe
People who self-medicate pain with alcohol may be vulnerable to hazardous drinking, with their experience of pain relief a potentially powerful driver of alcohol consumption, a new study suggests. Both pain and dangerous alcohol use are major public health issues. Each affects millions of US adults and costs hundreds of billions of dollars annually in health care and lost productivity. Recent studies have demonstrated a strong correlation between pain and alcohol use; people with chronic pain are more likely than others to report heavy drinking, and those with alcohol use disorder (AUD) are more likely to report chronic pain. Alcohol has known analgesic effects. Evidence of shared neural mechanisms underlying chronic pain and substance misuse suggest alcohol’s pain-relieving capacity might be influenced by individuals’ experience of chronic pain. Better understanding the relationship between chronic pain and alcohol use could inform improved prevention and treatment approaches. For the
Perfectionist traits — higher self-criticism, and unrealistic standards leading to isolation — are associated with severe alcohol use disorder (AUD), according to the first study directly comparing patients with AUD to a healthy control group. Perfectionist people strive for unrealistic performance standards and are prone to self-criticism.
Heavy and light drinkers show differences in biological markers of the internal processes that regulate the 24-hour sleep/wake cycle. The study findings, reported in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, may have implications for the clinical management of patients seeking treatment for heavy drinking. Previous studies have shown that later circadian timing, manifesting as a preference for evening (‘night owl’) rather than morning (‘lark’) activity, is associated with increased alcohol consumption. However, research into the association between alcohol use and biological markers of circadian timing was lacking. Two such markers are DLMO (dim light melatonin onset – considered the gold standard circadian phase marker) and PIPR (the post-illumination pupil response – a measure of activity of photoreceptors in the eye that are a key influence on circadian timing). In the latest study, researchers compared sleep, DLMO-related measures, and photoreceptor responsivity in heavy and
Heightened negative mood and stress during early recovery from alcohol use disorder (AUD) impair people’s ability to distinguish between emotions, which in turn predicts drinking relapse three months later.
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