Abstract
PurposeTo examine whether the frequency and amount of alcohol consumed in binge drinking sessions, total annual volume of alcohol consumed, problem drinking and abstaining from alcohol are associated with depressive symptoms in Eastern Europe.Subjects and MethodsCross-sectional data from a total of 24,381 participants from general population samples of the Czech Republic (N = 7,601), Russia (N = 6,908) and Poland (N = 9,872) aged 45–69 years in 2002–2005. Depressive symptoms were defined as ≥16 points on the Centre for Epidemiological Studies – Depression (CES-D) scale. Several alcohol related measures were derived using responses from the graduated frequency questionnaire. Binge drinking was defined at several sex-specific thresholds (ranging from 60+ to 140+ g of ethanol) and two frequencies (at least monthly or weekly). Total annual alcohol intake in grams was also extracted. Problem drinking was defined as ≥2 positive answers on the CAGE questionnaire.ResultsProblem drinking was consistently associated with approximately a 2-fold increase in odds of depressive symptoms across all countries and in both sexes. Abstaining from alcohol was typically associated with increased odds of depressive symptoms. Analyses separating lifelong abstainers and former drinkers in the Russian cohort revealed that this increased odds was driven by former drinkers. Amongst men, heavy frequent binge drinking was associated with increased odds of depressive symptoms in the Czech Republic and Poland. In women, heavy infrequent binge drinking was associated with increased odds of depressive symptoms in Russia and Poland. Only in Polish men was higher annual volume of alcohol intake associated with increased odds of depressive symptoms.ConclusionAbstaining from alcohol and problem drinking were associated with increased odds of depressive symptoms in these Eastern European populations. Annual volume of alcohol intake as well as frequency and amount of alcohol consumed in a binge drinking session were less consistently associated with depressive symptoms.
Highlights
Depression [1,2,3] and alcohol consumption [4] are widely acknowledged as important public health problems and there is ample evidence that the two are related [5,6]
Heavy frequent binge drinking was associated with increased odds of depressive symptoms in the Czech Republic and Poland
Examining the association between drinking pattern and depressive symptoms in populations with both high overall volume of alcohol intake combined with a pattern of heavy episodic drinking would allow for comparisons to be made to other drinking cultures whereby overall drinking volume is similar but drinking pattern is different or where drinking pattern is similar but overall volume of intake is lower to determine the extent to which drinking pattern plays a role in the development of depressive symptoms or whether it is mostly due to overall volume consumed
Summary
Depression [1,2,3] and alcohol consumption [4] are widely acknowledged as important public health problems and there is ample evidence that the two are related [5,6]. Studies that have looked at the relationship between alcohol intake and depressive symptoms have produced conflicting findings [10,11,12,13,14]. Both the prevalence of depression [15,16] and alcohol consumption [4] are high in Eastern Europe compared to other regions. Examining the association between drinking pattern and depressive symptoms in populations with both high overall volume of alcohol intake combined with a pattern of heavy episodic drinking would allow for comparisons to be made to other drinking cultures whereby overall drinking volume is similar but drinking pattern is different (for example, Southern Europe [4]) or where drinking pattern is similar but overall volume of intake is lower (e.g. the Nordic regions [4]) to determine the extent to which drinking pattern plays a role in the development of depressive symptoms or whether it is mostly due to overall volume consumed
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