Cohort Alcohol Use in France and the Transition from Use to Alcohol Use Disorder and Remission

ABSTRACT

The study aimed to examine the age of onset of stages of alcohol use in the general population, and to estimate the association of cohort use with the probability of transitioning from alcohol use to alcohol use disorder (AUD) and remission. French data (N = 2,894) from the European Study of the Epidemiology of Mental Disorders Survey and collected in 2000 were used. Data on lifetime history of alcohol use and DSM-IV alcohol use disorders, and remission were collected. Nearly every adult has consumed alcohol at least once in their lifetime (92.8%), and among users, 88.3% developed regular use, 6.0% met criteria for abuse and 1.7% for dependence. One-third of the population (32.8%) had used alcohol by the age of 15. Over 85% of cases of regular use were established prior to age 25, as were 61.1% of abuse and 39.4% of dependence cases. The proportion of people in an individual’s age and sex cohort who had already used alcohol by a given age was positively and significantly associated with increased odds of transitioning to each stage examined. The findings highlight sensitive periods of life where persons are at greater risk for transitioning to a higher level of alcohol use, and underscore the importance of cohort use in transition risk.

KEYWORDS:

• Alcohol
• abuse
• cohort use
• dependence
• transition
• remission

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The European Study of the Epidemiology of Mental Disorders (ESEMeD) Survey was carried out in conjunction with the World Health Organization World Mental Health (WMH) Survey Initiative, which was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH; R01 MH070884 and R01 MH093612-01), the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Pfizer Foundation, the U.S. Public Health Service (R13-MH066849, R01-MH069864, and R01 DA016558), the Fogarty International Center (FIRCA R03-TW006481), the Pan American Health Organization, Eli Lilly and Company, Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Inc., GlaxoSmithKline, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. This work was supported by an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) project grant (no. 1081984). We thank the staff of the WMH Data Collection and Data Analysis Coordination Centers for assistance with instrumentation, fieldwork, and consultation on data analysis. None of the funders had any role in the design, analysis, interpretation of results, or preparation of this paper.