142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

310482
Developmental Trajectories of Comorbid Alcohol and Tobacco Use Among Young Adults

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Charu Mathur, PhD, MPH, MBBS , Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health,University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Traci L. Toomey, PhD , Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Kathleen Lenk, MPH , Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Lindsey Fabian, MPH , Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Darin J. Erickson, PhD , Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Jean Forster, PhD, MPH , Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis, MN
Background: There is a high co-occurrence of alcohol use with tobacco use and therefore, it is important to identify trajectories of comorbidity to understand these behaviors. Furthermore, the risk factors that produce comorbid behaviors may differ from those that produce a single behavior.

Methods:  Data were derived from a multi-wave study of adolescents, the Minnesota Adolescent Community Cohort study, a population-based, observational cohort study. We fit trajectories to alcohol and tobacco use from ages 18 to 27, and then did analyses to explicitly identify trajectories of concurrent drinking and smoking.  

Results: We identified five trajectories of heavy drinking, including light or non-drinkers (69.4%), late onset moderately heavy drinkers (13.6%), late onset very heavy drinkers (4.2%), developmentally limited heavy drinkers (9.2%), and chronic heavy drinkers (3.6%), and four trajectories of smoking , including non or light smokers (47.1%), moderate smokers (24.4%), late onset heavy smokers (4.9%), and chronic heavy smokers (23.6%). Although the majority of participants in comorbid trajectories were light or non-drinkers, nearly half were either moderate-to- high drinkers or smokers, or some combination thereof.  Detailed results will be reported, including risk factors associated with comorbidity.

Conclusion: Overall, results support positive comorbidity between alcohol and tobacco trajectories through young adulthood. Additionally, identification of common drinking and smoking clusters might provide information for targeted prevention or treatment initiatives.

Learning Areas:

Epidemiology
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Identify trajectories of alcohol and tobacco use, individually Define and understand trajectories of alcohol and tobacco comorbidity Identify risk factors associated with comorbidity

Keyword(s): Alcohol Use, Tobacco Use

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been involved in substance abuse research for the last 10 years, and worked as a post-doc, and research assistant on multiple federally funded grants focusing on substance use among youth. My research interests have been to understand clusters of substance users. Scientific knowledge gained by our research will inform the development of programs tailored for and targeted to different subgroups of individuals, which will enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of these interventions.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

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.

Back to: 5002.0: Adolescent Alcohol Use