Anika Alvanzo

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Race/ethnicity and sex differences in progression from drinking initiation to the development of alcohol dependence.

Anika A H Alvanzo; Carla L Storr; Lareina La Flair; Kerry M Green; Fernando A Wagner; Rosa M Crum (Profiled Authors: Anika Alvanzo; Rosa Crum)

Division of General Internal Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 1830 East Monument Street, Room 8047a, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA. aalvanz1@jhmi.edu
Drug and alcohol dependence 2011;118(2-3):375-82.

BACKGROUND: Prior studies on the course of alcohol use disorders have reported a "telescoping" effect with women progressing from drinking initiation to alcohol dependence faster than men. However, there is a paucity of population-based analyses that have examined progression to alcohol dependence comparing race/ethnicity subgroups, and little is known about whether the telescoping effect for women varies by race/ethnicity. We examined whether a telescoping effect is present in the general population comparing race/ethnicity subgroups and comparing men and women stratified by race. METHODS: This study uses data from Wave I of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) to compare a nationally representative sample of White, Black and Hispanic adults 18-44 years of age (n=21,106). Time to event analyses compare the risk of alcohol initiation, onset of alcohol dependence, and the transition from initial use to onset of alcohol dependence in the three race/ethnicity groups and for males and females in each race/ethnicity group. RESULTS: Whites were younger than Blacks and Hispanics of the same sex at drinking onset and progressed to alcohol dependence at a faster rate than both Blacks and Hispanics. In addition, we found no evidence of a telescoping effect in women for any race/ethnicity group. CONCLUSIONS: The present study illustrates differences in the course of transition from alcohol initiation to the development of dependence by race/ethnicity but not sex. Our findings highlight the need for additional study of factors resulting in race/ethnicity differences in order to inform culturally relevant prevention and intervention initiatives.

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