This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on ISI (54)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Substance Abuse/ Alcoholism  • Depression  • Public Health  • Alert me on articles by topic

Association With Past Alcohol Dependence

Deborah S. Hasin, PhD; Bridget F. Grant, PhD

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2002;59:794-800.

Background  The association between alcoholism and major depression in the general population has been explained as misdiagnosed alcohol intoxication and withdrawal effects mistaken for depressive syndromes. To investigate whether this could account for the entire relationship, the association of past alcohol dependence with current major depression (ie, nonoverlapping time frames) was investigated in individuals who no longer drink or who drink very little. We conducted the study using data from the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey, a representative sample.

Methods  Former drinkers who did not use drugs or smoke in the past year (n = 6050) were divided into those with and without past DSM-IV alcohol dependence. These 2 groups were compared for the presence of current (last 12 months) DSM-IV major depression. The association between prior alcohol dependence and current major depression was tested with linear logistic regression, controlling for other variables.

Results  Prior alcohol dependence increased the risk of current major depressive disorder more than 4-fold. This relationship was not attenuated by control variables. The majority of subjects with major depression last used substances 2 or more years prior to the interview, which eliminates acute intoxication or withdrawal effects as an explanation of their depressions.

Conclusions  The strong, specific association between prior alcohol dependence and current or recent major depression in a nationally representative sample of former drinkers indicates that the association is not entirely an artifact of misdiagnosed intoxication and withdrawal effects. A better understanding of the nature of the relationship between the 2 disorders should be sought and will have important public health significance.

From the Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, and New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York (Dr Hasin); and the Division of Biometry and Epidemiology, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, Md (Dr Grant).

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Alcohol Consumption and Posttraumatic Stress After Exposure to Terrorism: Effects of Proximity, Loss, and Psychiatric History
Hasin et al.
Am. J. Public Health 2007;97:2268-2275.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Prevalence, Correlates, Disability, and Comorbidity of DSM-IV Alcohol Abuse and Dependence in the United States: Results From the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions
Hasin et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 2007;64:830-842.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Depressive Symptoms, Smoking, Drinking, and Quality of Life Among Head and Neck Cancer Patients
Duffy et al.
Psychosomatics 2007;48:142-148.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Diagnosis of Comorbid Psychiatric Disorders in Substance Users Assessed With the Psychiatric Research Interview for Substance and Mental Disorders for DSM-IV
Hasin et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 2006;163:689-696.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Epidemiology of Major Depressive Disorder: Results From the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcoholism and Related Conditions
Hasin et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 2005;62:1097-1106.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Prevalence and Co-occurrence of Substance Use Disorders and Independent Mood and Anxiety Disorders: Results From the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions
Grant et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 2004;61:807-816.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Multiple sclerosis and alcohol: a study of problem drinking
Quesnel and Feinstein
Mult Scler 2004;10:197-201.
ABSTRACT  

Depression: What We can Learn from Postmortem Studies
Rajkowska
Neuroscientist 2003;9:273-284.
ABSTRACT  

alpha -Synuclein maps to a quantitative trait locus for alcohol preference and is differentially expressed in alcohol-preferring and -nonpreferring rats
Liang et al.
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2003;100:4690-4695.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

When to Treat Major Depression in Alcoholic Patients
JWatch Psychiatry 2002;2002:4-4.
FULL TEXT  

Past Alcohol Dependence Is a Risk Factor for Depression
JWatch General 2002;2002:2-2.
FULL TEXT