Does the decline in Swedish adolescent drinking persist into early adulthood?

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Sweden has experienced a substantial decrease in adolescent drinking over the past decades. Whether the reduction persists into early adulthood remains unclear. Using survey data, the present study aimed to determine whether reductions in indicators of alcohol use observed among adolescents remain in early adulthood and whether changes in alcohol intake are consistent among light/moderate and heavy drinkers.

DESIGN

Data from the Swedish monthly Alcohol Monitoring Survey (2001-20) were used to construct five 5-year birth cohorts (1978-82, 1983-87, 1988-92, 1993-97 and 1998-2002).

SETTING

Sweden.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of n = 52 847 respondents (48% females) aged 16 and 30 years were included in this study.

MEASUREMENTS

For both males and females, temporal changes in the prevalence of any drinking, the prevalence of heavy episodic drinking (HED) and total alcohol intake in the past 30 days in centilitres were analysed.

FINDINGS

The prevalence of any drinking in more recent cohorts remained low until young people came into their early (females) and mid- (males) 20s. Male cohorts differed in the prevalence of HED across age, with the later cohorts showing lower odds than earlier cohorts (odds ratios between 0.54 and 0.66). Among females, no systematic differences between cohorts across age could be observed. Later male birth cohorts in light/moderate drinkers had lower alcohol intake than earlier cohorts (correlation coefficients between -0.09 and -0.54). No statistically significant cohort effects were found for male heavy drinkers. Although differences in alcohol intake among females diminished as age increased, the cohorts did not differ systematically in their level of alcohol intake.

CONCLUSIONS

In Sweden, the reduced uptake of drinking in adolescents appears to fade as people move into adulthood. Observed reductions in alcohol intake among light and moderate drinkers appear to persist into adulthood. More recent male cohorts show a lower prevalence rate of heavy episodic drinking.

Alcohol consumption trajectories and self-rated health: findings from the Stockholm Public Health Cohort

OBJECTIVE

To investigate whether poor self-rated health and psychological distress are differentially associated with drinking trajectories over time.

METHODS

From the Stockholm Public Health Cohort, two subcohorts surveyed in 2002-2010-2014 and 2006-2010-2014 (n=23 794 and n=34 667 at baseline, respectively) were used. Alcohol consumption, self-rated health, psychological distress (measured by General Health Questionnaire-12), lifestyle factors and longstanding illness were assessed by questionnaires. Demographic and socioeconomic variables were obtained by register linkage. Logistic regression was fitted to assess the associations with eight alcohol consumption trajectories, which were constructed among 30 228 individuals (13 898 and 16 330 from the 2002 and 2006 subcohorts, respectively) with measures of consumption at three time points.

RESULTS

Compared with stable moderate drinkers, all other trajectories were associated with poor self-rated health with multiadjusted OR for stable non-drinkers of 2.35 (95% CIs 1.86 to 2.97), unstable non-drinkers (OR=2.58, 95% CI 1.54 to 3.32), former drinkers (OR=2.81, 95% CI 2.31 to 3.41) and stable heavy drinkers (OR=2.16, 95% CI 1.47 to 3.20). The associations were not fully explained by sociodemographic and lifestyle factors and longstanding illness. Former drinking, but no other trajectories, was associated with psychological distress (OR=1.24; 95% CI 1.10 to 1.41).

CONCLUSION

We found a U-shape association between alcohol trajectories and self-rated health, but not with psychological distress. Compared with stable moderate drinking, former drinking was associated with the highest odds of both poor self-rated health and psychological distress. The study confirms the importance of a life-course approach to examining the effect of alcohol consumption on health and highlights the poorer general and mental health status of non-drinkers who were former drinkers.