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Background: Relatively little is known about factors that may lead to the development of a substance use disorder (SUD), across a range of drug classes. This study aimed to identify factors that predict the likelihood of transition from use to SUD and the speed with which this may occur at the population level, with a focus on the impact of pre-existing mental disorders.Methods: Data were collected as part of the 2007 Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, a nationally representative survey of 8841 Australian adults. A series of discrete time survival analyses were undertaken on data pertaining to the age of onset of use and symptoms of use disorder, for alcohol, cannabis, sedatives, stimulants, and opioids, as well as the impact of pre-existing mood and anxiety disorders on the likelihood of developing a SUD.Results: Lifetime cumulative probability estimates indicated that 50.4% of stimulant, 46.6% of opioid, 39% of sedative, 37.5% of alcohol, and 34.1% of cannabis users would develop a SUD on those substances, within an estimated 14, 12, 8, 30, and 23 years after onset respectively. Pre-existing mental disorders were significantly associated with increased risk of developing a SUD for alcohol, cannabis and stimulant use disorder.Conclusion: The relative speed associated with the transition from use to SUD emphasizes the narrow window of time available to intervene, underscoring the urgency of early identification of mental health conditions and the timely provision of appropriate evidence-based interventions, which could potentially prevent the development of secondary SUDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moderate alcohol consumption appears to be associated with reduced inflammation. Determining whether this association is robust to common variations in research parameters has wide-reaching implications for our understanding of disease aetiology and public health policy. We aimed to conduct comprehensive multiverse and vibration of effects analyses evaluating the associations between alcohol consumption and a measure of inflammation. A secondary analysis of the 1970 British Birth Cohort Study was performed, using data from 1970 through 2016. Measurements of alcohol consumption were taken in early/mid-adulthood (ages 34 and 42), and level of inflammation marker high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) at age 46. Multiverse analyses were applied to comparisons of low-to-moderate consumption and consumption above various international drinking guidelines with an 'abstinent' reference. Research parameters of interest related to: definitions of drinking and reference groups; alcohol consumption measurement year; outcome variable transformation; and breadth of covariate adjustment. After identifying various analytic options within these parameters and running the analysis over each unique option combination, specification curve plots, volcano plots, effect ranges, and variance decomposition metrics were used to assess consistency of results. A total of 3101 individuals were included in the final analyses, with primary analyses limited to those where occasional consumers served as reference. All combinations of research specifications resulted in lower levels of inflammation amongst low-to-moderate consumers compared to occasional consumers (1st percentile effect: −0.21; 99th percentile effect: −0.04). Estimates comparing above-guidelines drinking with occasional consumers were less definitive (1st percentile effect: −0.26; 99th percentile effect: 0.43). The association between low-to-moderate drinking and lower hsCRP levels is largely robust to common variations in researcher-defined parameters, warranting further research to establish whether this relationship is causal. The association between above-guidelines drinking and hsCRP levels is less definitive. • This was the first multiverse analysis of the alcohol–inflammation relationship. • A robust association was found between low-to-moderate drinking and reduced hsCRP. • The association between above-guidelines drinking and hsCRP was less clear. • Reference groups that include true abstainers can be problematic. • Common variations in research parameters can impact effect size and direction.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corrigendum to "Changes over time in young adults' harmful alcohol consumption: A cross-temporal meta-analysis using the AUDIT" [Drug Alcohol Depend. [Extracted from the article]

Background: Recent studies suggest that young adult participation in, and volume of, alcohol consumption has decreased. However, the evidence on trends in harmful alcohol consumption in this age group is limited. The current paper aims to examine changes over time in harmful alcohol consumption using a robust, widely employed measure.Methods: The literature was systematically searched for articles reporting on Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) scores in young adults aged 18-24 years. The key data extracted were year of measurement and mean AUDIT score (proportion above clinical cut-off was not relevant for these analyses). Cross-temporal meta-analysis was applied to the extracted data.Results: A decrease was found in young adults' AUDIT scores measured between 1989 and 2015 (b=-0.13, β=-0.38, p = 0.015, 95 % CI=-0.24, -0.03), representing a 0.63 standard deviation change over this period. Variance did not change over this time, suggesting scores decreased equally over the distribution.Conclusions: Results indicate that harmful alcohol consumption in young adults may have declined between 1989 and 2015. Despite the continued problems posed by dependence and short and long-term harms, these promising findings offer hope that the considerable alcohol-related disease burden in this age group may be reduced. Ongoing data collection is required to evaluate whether these declines in young adulthood persist into later life, and future research should explore the reasons for declining harmful alcohol consumption in young adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]