Alcohol and psychiatric illness: longitudinal study of psychiatric admissions in a cohort of Swedish conscripts.
The association between level of alcohol consumption and admission for psychiatric care during a 15-year follow-up was studied in a cohort of 49,464 Swedish conscripts. The relative risk for psychiatric admission among high consumers of alcohol (more than 250 g alcohol per week) was 5.3 (95% confidence interval 4.7-6.0) compared with moderate consumers (1-100 g alcohol per week). After control for social background variables in a multivariate model, the odds ratio was 1.8 (1.5-2.1). Abstainers had the same rate of admission as moderate consumers. The association with alcohol was positive in all diagnostic categories studied. Neurotic depression was found to be a risk factor for admission for alcoholism, indicating that a causal association between alcohol and neurotic depression may go in both directions.
Andréasson
S
S
Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Huddinge, Sweden.
Allebeck
P
P
D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology