Elsevier

Addictive Behaviors

Volume 29, Issue 5, July 2004, Pages 1035-1038
Addictive Behaviors

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Major depression associated with earlier alcohol relapse in treated teens with AUD

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2004.02.056Get rights and content

Abstract

This study evaluated whether the common comorbid diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with an earlier relapse to alcohol use among adolescents with an alcohol use disorder (AUD). The study sample consisted of 116 adolescents between the ages of 14 and 18 with an AUD recruited from treatment facilities in the Pittsburgh area, 50 of whom demonstrated a current MDD. An extensive baseline interview was conducted, followed by monthly interviews of alcohol use conducted by telephone for the following year. Those with current comorbid MDD demonstrated a median survival time of only 19 days until the first drink, while those without MDD demonstrated a median survival time of 45 days, which was a significant difference (Kaplan–Meier survival analysis, Breslow Test Statistic=4.27, df=1, P=.039). These results suggest that the comorbid presence of MDD is associated with an earlier relapse to alcohol use among adolescents with an AUD.

Introduction

Brown et al. Brown et al., 1994, Brown et al., 2000 demonstrated that early relapse is the norm among adolescents treated for alcohol use disorders (AUDs; alcohol abuse or dependence). Our own recent work (Cornelius et al., 2003) confirmed that finding. However, the factors that contribute to early relapse in treated teenagers remain unclear. For example, it is unclear whether the common comorbid diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with an earlier relapse to alcohol use among teens with AUD. Brown et al. Brown et al., 1994, Brown et al., 2000 could not assess whether MDD was associated with an earlier relapse to alcohol use, because subjects with MDD were excluded from their study sample.

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate whether MDD is associated with an earlier alcohol relapse in treated teenagers with AUDs. Based on previous work with adults Daley & Marlatt, 1992, Pickens et al., 1985, we hypothesized that MDD would be associated with an earlier alcohol relapse among our teenage sample. To investigate this hypothesis, we determined the time to relapse among our sample of 116 adolescents with AUDs and compared the time to relapse of those with comorbid MDD to that of those who did not display comorbid MDD.

Section snippets

Methods

The study currently being reported was the Relapse Study of the Pittsburgh Adolescent Alcohol Research Center (PAARC), a center grant funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) studying AUDs among adolescents. The Relapse Study was designed to study clinical course and relapse among adolescents with AUDs. Prior to participation in the study, written informed consent was obtained after the procedures had been fully explained. The study was approved by the University

Results

The study sample consisted of 116 adolescents with current diagnoses of an AUD (alcohol dependence or alcohol abuse) between the ages of 14 and 18. The participants in this study included 75 boys (64.7%) and 41 girls (35.3%). Their mean age was 16.8 (±1.19). These subjects included 110 whites and 6 African–Americans. Fifty of these subjects (43.1%) demonstrated a current diagnosis of MDD. Those 50 subjects with MDD did not significantly differ from those without MDD on any measures of alcohol

Discussion

To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate whether MDD is associated with earlier relapse among adolescents with AUDs. The results of this study suggest that the presence of MDD is associated with an earlier relapse to alcohol use among adolescents with an AUD. These results are consistent with the results of previous studies involving adults with AUDs in the past Daley & Marlatt, 1992, Pickens et al., 1985 and extend the results of previous work involving adolescents with AUDs Brown

Acknowledgments

This work was conducted at the Pittsburgh Adolescent Alcohol Research Center (PAARC), a center grant funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (P50 AA08746). Additional funding was provided by the following grants: R01 AA013370, R01 DA14635, R01 AA13397, R01 AA11929, P50 DA05605, K01 AA00324, K02 AA0291, K02 AA00249, and a grant from the Department of Veterans Affairs (MIRECC to VISN 4, Stars and Stripes Network).

References (10)

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