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Frequent intoxication and alcohol tolerance in adolescence: associations with psychiatric disorders in young adulthood
Author(s) -
Sarala Marian,
Miettunen Jouko,
Koskela Jari,
Mustonen Antti,
Rose Richard J.,
Hurtig Tuula,
Veijola Juha,
Niemelä Solja
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
addiction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.424
H-Index - 193
eISSN - 1360-0443
pISSN - 0965-2140
DOI - 10.1111/add.14889
Subject(s) - psychiatry , medicine , anxiety , mood , psychopathology , alcohol intoxication , substance abuse , mood disorders , odds ratio , alcohol use disorder , cohort study , cohort , poison control , young adult , confidence interval , injury prevention , alcohol , medical emergency , biochemistry , chemistry
Aims To assess the associations of intoxication frequency and number of drinks needed to become intoxicated in mid‐adolescence with onset of psychiatric disorders in early adulthood. Design, Setting and Participants Prospective cohort study in Northern Finland, with people from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 who self‐reported adolescent alcohol use: 6548 subjects (69.4% of the original sample). Data on alcohol use were collected using questionnaires at ages 15–16 years. Measurements Outcomes were any non‐organic psychosis, mood disorder, anxiety disorder, any substance use disorder (SUD) and all the studied psychiatric disorders in early adulthood gathered from nation‐wide health care, pension and insurance registers. Number of drinks needed to become intoxicated was categorized into three classes: (1) no alcohol use or intoxication, and (2) low and (3) high alcohol tolerance (more than seven/nine drinks for females/males) groups. Similarly, intoxication frequency was divided into three classes: (1) never, (2) one to two times and (3) three or more times during the past 30 days. Information regarding gender, family type, other drug use, psychopathology using Youth Self‐Report (YSR) total score and parental psychiatric disorders were used as covariates. Findings In the multivariable analyses, both low [odds ratio (OR) = 3.0, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.3–6.7, P ‐value = 0.009] and high (OR = 4.4, 95% CI = 1.8–11.1, P ‐value = 0.001) alcohol tolerance were associated with increased risk of SUD. More frequent intoxication was associated with increased frequency of SUD (OR = 3.9, 95% CI = 2.0–7.3, P ‐value < 0.001) and mood disorder (OR = 1.6, 95% CI = 1.1–2.3, P ‐value = 0.008). The latter was attenuated after adjusting with concurrent psychopathology (YSR) and other drug use. Conclusions Both higher alcohol tolerance and frequent intoxication in adolescence appear to be associated with increased risk of future substance use disorder.