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Abstract #148988

Brett T. Hagman, MA¹, Edgar P. Simard, MPH², Cristine D. Delnevo, PhD, MPH², Mary Hrywna, MPH², and Jill Williams, MD³. (1) University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, School of Public Health, 317 George Street, Suite 209, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, 732-235-9727, hagmanbr@umdnj.edu, (2) School of Public Health, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, 335 George Street, Suite 2100, New Brunswick, NJ 08903, (3) University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, 317 George Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901

Background: Smokers are more likely to consume alcohol and vice-versa. Although a number of psychosocial factors have been identified as contributors to the concurrent use of alcohol and tobacco, recent research has suggested that an individual's serious psychological distress (SPD) may be a moderating factor.

Methods: We examined the extent to which SPD moderates the relationship between current binge drinking and tobacco use among the general population utilizing data from the 2005 National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). The NSDUH is a national, multistage household survey of the non-institutionalized population. We examined data from 37,227 adults who were > 18 years old. The K6 scale measured SPD symptoms and symptom frequency during the previous year.

Results: An adjusted logistic regression analysis indicated that binge drinking (OR = 3.05; 95% CIs 2.79-3.34) and SPD (OR = 2.16; 95% CIs 1.90-2.45) predicted current cigarette use. A significant interaction emerged between current binge drinking and SPD indicating that the risk of current cigarette use increased among current binge drinkers with SPD (OR = 5.15; 95% CIs 4.45-6.23 ) compared to either alone. A similar relationship was found for the risk of current use of any type of tobacco product.

Conclusion: Study findings indicate that SPD modifies the relationship between current binge drinking and tobacco use. As researchers continue to delineate factors that underlie alcohol and tobacco comorbidity, prevention/treatment efforts should focus on an individual's current SPD in order to decrease the concurrent use of both.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify specific psychosocial factors that contribute to the use of alcohol and tobacco.
• Participants will be able to further understand the etiology and maintenance of alcohol/tobacco comorbidity.
• Design a specifically tailored intervention to address psychosocial factors that underlie alcohol and tobacco comorbidity.

Keywords: Alcohol, Tobacco

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.