Incidence of first onset alcohol use disorder: a 16-year follow-up in the Taiwanese aborigines

• Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Vol. 48; no. 6; pp. 955 - 963
• Main Authors: Lee, Chau-Shoun, Liao, Shu-Fen, Liu, I-Chao, Lee, Wen-Chung, Cheng, Andrew T. A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.06.2013; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Addictive behaviors; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Age; Age of Onset; Aged; Alcohol use; Alcoholism; Alcoholism - diagnosis; Alcoholism - ethnology; Alcoholism and acute alcohol poisoning; Biological and medical sciences; Cohort Studies; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Drinking of alcoholic beverages; Epidemiology; Ethnicity; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Health care; Humans; Indigenous peoples; Interviews; Investigations; Longitudinal studies; Male; Medical research; Medical sciences; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Medicine, Experimental; Middle Aged; Native peoples; Neuropsychiatry; Neuropsychological Tests; Oceanic Ancestry Group - psychology; Oceanic Ancestry Group - statistics & numerical data; Original Paper; Polls & surveys; Preventive medicine; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Public health; Response rates; Risk Assessment; Surveys; Taiwan - epidemiology; Toxicology; White people; Taiwan; Alcohol use disorder; Incidence rate; Cohort study; Cumulative risk; Social environment; Human; Alcoholism; Mental health; Substance abuse; Epidemiology; Incidence; Alcoholic beverage; First episode; Follow up study; Risk factor; Aboriginal; Public health
• ISSN: 0933-7954; 1433-9285
• DOI: 10.1007/s00127-012-0600-z

Purpose To investigate the incidence and cumulative risk of first onset alcohol use disorder (AUD) in a 16-year follow-up among Taiwanese aboriginal populations. Methods Participants included in this study were cohort subjects free from any AUD at phase 1 survey ( n  = 428 for DSM-3-R and 451 for DSM-4) of the Taiwan aboriginal study project conducted in 1986–1988. They were reassessed approximately 16 years later, with a response rate of 98.8 %. A Chinese version of the WHO schedules for clinical assessment in neuropsychiatry was employed to assess the lifetime drinking history and AUD. Results Age-standardized annual incidence rates of AUD in all groups were 2.26 and 1.75 % according to DSM-3-R and DSM-4, respectively. The overall incidence rates of AUD were comparable to most of other studies in Caucasian populations, but the sex ratios of women to men were higher in this study (1:2–3) than in the latter (1:6). The incidence of AUD was higher with DSM-3-R than with DSM-4 criteria in this study, attributable to the exclusion of physical/psychological harm in DSM-4 alcohol abuse. The cumulative risks of DSM-4 AUD in this study were very high, being 72.2 ± 19.8 for men and 48.7 ± 8.2 for women up to the age of 65 years. Conclusions High incidence rates and cumulative risks of AUD in Taiwanese aborigines demand effective prevention strategy.