 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Robert Lipton, PhD, Prevention Research Center, 2150 Shattuck Ave. Suite 900, Berkeley, CA 94704, 510 883 5755, rlipton@prev.org
Aims. (1) To determine if depression differs across drinking/abstention categories controlling for socio-demographic and lifestyle variables 2) To determine if depression is differentially related to type of abstention. Data and Method. The NLAES, a US national stratified sampled cross-sectional dataset (N=42862) is analyzed. Drinking status is divided into current drinkers, current heavy drinkers, former drinkers and lifetime abstainers. Depression was dichotomized as ever having been depressed (using DSM-IV criteria) vs. never depressed. Logistic regression using SUDAAN (to account for complex sampling) was used to control for the effects of socio-demographic factors. Results. Ex-drinkers, when drinking, consumed significantly higher average quantities than did current drinkers . When abstention was not stratified into lifetime abstention and ex-drinking, no difference was found in estimated risk of depression between abstainers and current drinkers. High quantity current drinkers were found to have an increased risk (OR=1.34, 95% confidence interval (1.17, 1.54)). When abstention was stratified into lifetime and ex-drinking, ex-drinkers were found to have an increased risk of depression (OR=1.46 (1.33, 1.61)) while lifetime abstainers were found to have a protective estimated risk against depression (OR=0.70 (0.63, 0.78)) compared to current drinkers. High quantity current drinkers were found, similar to ex-drinkers, to have an increased risk of depression (OR=1.39 (1.20, 1.60)). Conclusions. Abstention is not a homogeneous category with regard to depression. Ex-drinkers and lifetime abstainers can be considered distinct groups when conducting research in this area. The preventative effect found for lifetime abstainers, even relative to current drinkers, is an unusual finding that bears further study.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Alcohol Use, Depression
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.