WEDNESDAY, Mar. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Alcohol abuse/dependence leads to increased risk of major depression instead of vice versa, answering a much debated question regarding the link between these two events, according to research published in the March issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.
David M. Fergusson, Ph.D., of the University of Otago in New Zealand, and colleagues analyzed data from a cohort of 1,055 individuals followed since birth. Participants were grouped into three categories based on age.
Within the 17-18, 20-21 and 24-25 age groups, 19.4 percent, 22.4 percent and 13.6 percent of individuals were classified as having alcohol abuse/dependence, respectively, and 18.2 percent, 18.2 percent and 13.8 percent had major depression, respectively, the researchers report. In the overall study population, individuals with alcohol abuse/dependence were nearly twice as likely (1.9 times) to also be classified as having major depression. Although this decreased to 1.66-fold when adjusted for fixed- and time-dependent variables, the association was still significant, the investigators note. The best-fitting causal association model was one in which alcohol abuse/dependence led to major depression, the report indicates.
"It is likely that the causal models we have used to represent these data are only approximations to a more complex set of conditions," the authors write. "For these reasons, our findings should be viewed as suggestive rather than definitive."
Abstract
Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)
