Age at First Use of Alcohol and Risk of Heavy Alcohol Use: A Population-Based Study

Wenbin Liang,Tanya Chikritzhs

doi:10.1155/2013/721761

Abstract

Aim. To examine the association between age at first alcohol use and risk of heavy alcohol use among the adult US general drinking population. Methods. This population-based study used the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) from United States. Multivariate Poisson regression was employed to predict the frequency of heavy alcohol use (five or more drinks per occasion) in the last 30 days with age at first use of alcohol controlling for potential confounding factors. Results. Younger age at first use of alcohol was associated with increased likelihood of heavy alcohol use in the last 30 days in this population-based sample. This association remained significant when analysis was reperformed for the subgroup of participants who were with desired good health status and Kessler score lower than 12. Conclusion. Younger age at first use of alcohol was associated with increased likelihood of heavy alcohol use.

Highlights

Several studies have suggested that people who start drinking at a younger age have an increased risk of alcohol use disorders [1,2,3,4,5,6]
We aimed to examine the association between age at first alcohol use and risk of heavy alcohol use among the adult US general drinking population
Details of sampling strategy and data collection methods have been described in the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) report [8, 9]

Summary

Introduction

Several studies have suggested that people who start drinking at a younger age have an increased risk of alcohol use disorders [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Our recent analysis of data collected by the Australian National Drug Strategy Household Survey showed that age at first use was associated with a higher level of subsequent alcohol use among the general Australian population [7]. This association remained significant even after the analysis was limited to the population who had good (i.e., “desired”) health status and low psychological distress [7]. We aimed to examine the association between age at first alcohol use and risk of heavy alcohol use among the adult US general drinking population

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion