Trajectories of Lifetime Comorbid Alcohol and Other Drug Use Disorders Through Midlife.
- Authors
- Upah, Roxanne; Jacob, Theodore; Price, Rumi Kato
- Year
- 2015
- Journal
- Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs
- PMID
- 26402352
- DOI
- 10.15288/jsad.2015.76.721
OBJECTIVE: Very few studies have examined the developmental nature of comorbid alcohol use disorders and drug use disorders (AUD-DUD). The current study sought to extend our understanding of the nature of AUD-DUD comorbidity by characterizing the developmental course of AUD-DUD comorbidity, determining the degree to which the two disorders occur during the same period, and eliciting differences in AUD-DUD trajectories over the life course. METHOD: Vietnam-era male veterans and matched civilians provided retrospective accounts of alcohol- and other drug-related experiences spanning 25 years. Concurrent growth mixture modeling was used to describe the course of AUD-DUD lifetime comorbidity. RESULTS: Five trajectories were identified based on the probabilities of diagnosing with AUD-DUD: substance switching (increasing AUD, decreasing DUD); young adult (both AUD and DUD decreasing rapidly after young adulthood); severe nonchronic (both AUD and DUD decreasing slowly in the third decade of life); severe chronic alcohol-severe nonchronic drug (AUD remains high and DUD decreases in the fourth decade); and young adult alcohol-severe chronic drug (decreasing AUD in the second decade and DUD remains high). CONCLUSIONS: For the majority of this sample, substance use disorders continued or worsened through adulthood, indicating a problem that extends far beyond young adulthood. Demographic characteristics differed among the trajectories; however, psychiatric diagnoses did not differ except for the number of years with diagnoses of antisocial personality disorder. Subthreshold symptoms in adulthood may be present for a significant period before diagnosis, making this period important for intervention and prevention. Integration of efforts into healthcare, employment, and public policy will help target those at highest risk.
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| Title | Year | PMID |
|---|---|---|
| A 22-Year Follow-Up (Range 16 to 23) of Original Subjects with Baseline Alcohol Use Disorders from the Collaborative Study on Genetics of Alcoholism. | 2018 | 29975427 |
External
| Title | Authors | Journal | Year | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Longitudinal patterns of polysubstance use throughout adolescence: association with adult substance use and psychosocial outcomes controlling for preadolescent risk factors in a male cohort. | Carbonneau R et al. | — | 2023 | → |
| Substance Use in U.S. Vietnam War Era Veterans and Nonveterans: Results from the Vietnam Era Health Retrospective Observational Study. | Cypel YS et al. | — | 2023 | → |
| Heterogeneity in the Development of Drug Use Versatility: Risk Factors for Polydrug Use throughout the Life-Course. | Wojciechowski TW | — | 2019 | → |
| A 22-Year Follow-Up (Range 16 to 23) of Original Subjects with Baseline Alcohol Use Disorders from the Collaborative Study on Genetics of Alcoholism. | Schuckit MA et al. | — | 2018 | → |
| Initiation and engagement as mechanisms for change caused by collaborative care in opioid and alcohol use disorders. | Setodji CM et al. | — | 2018 | → |
| Drinking Status Between Ages 50 and 55 for Men From the San Diego Prospective Study Who Developed DSM-IV Alcohol Abuse or Dependence in Prior Follow-Ups. | Gonçalves PD et al. | — | 2017 | → |