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Rehab News: Early age drinking can lead to later alcohol dependence

Drinking at an early age can lead to later alcohol dependence according to a recent article to be published in the August issue of Alcoholism - Clinical and Experimental Research and

The research has shown that an early age at onset of drinking (AOD) is a strong predictor of subsequent alcohol dependence (AD). Previous research results showed that women born after 1944 also began drinking earlier than their predecessors, which might help to explain their higher rates of AD.

"Previous work had found that about one in three individuals who reported having started drinking at ages 17 or younger also reported having been alcohol dependent, either currently or previously," explained Richard A. Grucza, an epidemiologist at Washington University School of Medicine and the study's corresponding author. "For people who reported that they started drinking at age 21 or older, that number is one in ten. In other words, individuals who begin drinking at 17 or younger are more than three times more likely to develop AD than those who begin at age 21 or older."

The two large, national surveys used were the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey (NLAES), conducted in 1991 and 1992; and the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), conducted in 2001 and 2002. Grucza and his colleagues looked at changes in AOD as well as the lifetime prevalence of AD, while simultaneously controlling for age-related factors.

Grucza said that there are several interpretations of the correlation between AOD and AD. "One compelling perspective is that people who are at high genetic risk for AD begin drinking earlier for the same reasons that they develop AD. For example, they may be more impulsive, prone to greater risk taking, have a harder time controlling their behaviour, and so on. Since delaying AOD by itself wouldn't change these other factors, it wouldn't necessarily lead to reduced AD." However, he noted, these most recent findings contradict that point of view because changes in AOD over time do predict changes in AD.

"Since genes don't change over that short of a period of time, the genetic explanation can't be the whole story. Earlier AOD may have contributed directly to increased AD, or changes in the social environment may have influenced both AOD and AD."

Both Grucza and Compton agreed that this would indicate that delaying alcohol use, possibly through prevention programs, could lead to reduced alcohol problems and dependence later in life.

Article published on 06/06/2008 by DryOutNow.com