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Alcohol Craving and Psychiatric Disorders Among Current Drinkers
Author(s) -
Yoon Gihyun,
Thompson Katie,
Hakes Jahn K.,
Westermeyer Joseph,
Petrakis Ismene L.,
Kim Suck Won
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the american journal on addictions
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.997
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1521-0391
pISSN - 1055-0496
DOI - 10.1111/ajad.13083
Subject(s) - craving , psychiatry , alcohol use disorder , anxiety , population , medicine , odds ratio , personality disorders , odds , mood , clinical psychology , psychology , alcohol , personality , addiction , logistic regression , social psychology , biochemistry , chemistry , environmental health
Background and Objectives Previous research has shown that alcohol craving is associated with psychiatric comorbidities. However, no population studies have examined the odds of psychiatric disorders in cravers and noncravers. The purpose of this study was to investigate current prevalence rates and odds ratios of psychiatric disorders among alcohol drinkers with and without alcohol craving in a population‐based sample. We also compared four craving groups (cravers with and without alcohol use disorder [AUD], noncravers with and without AUD) for psychiatric comorbidities. Methods The study data were drawn from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC). A subset of the NESARC sample ( N = 22 000) who reported alcohol use during the past 12 months was included. Prevalence rates of psychiatric disorders were compared among current drinkers with alcohol craving ( N = 900) and without alcohol craving ( N = 21 500). Results Cravers had higher prevalence rates of current psychiatric disorders than noncravers. Even after adjustment for other psychiatric disorders including AUD, cravers had significantly higher odds of any substance use disorder (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 9.01), any mood disorder (AOR, 1.78), any anxiety disorder (AOR, 1.86), and any personality disorder (AOR, 1.92) than noncravers. Interestingly, cravers without AUD had even higher rates of any anxiety disorder and any personality disorder than noncravers with AUD. Conclusions and Scientific Significance Alcohol craving is associated with a higher prevalence of various psychiatric disorders. These findings suggest that alcohol craving may be related to transdiagnostic features that are present across various psychiatric disorders. (Am J Addict 2021;30:34–42)