title: How can we use our knowledge of alcohol-tobacco interactions to reduce alcohol use?
abstract: Currently, 8.5% of the US population meets criteria for alcohol use disorders, with a total cost to the US economy estimated at $234 billion per year. Alcohol and tobacco use share a high degree of comorbidity and interact across many levels of analysis. This review begins by highlighting alcohol and tobacco comorbidity and presenting evidence that tobacco increases the risk for alcohol misuse and likely has a causal role in this relationship. We then discuss how knowledge of alcohol and tobacco interactions can be used to reduce alcohol use, focusing on whether (a) smoking status can be used as a clinical indicator for alcohol misuse, (b) tobacco policies reduce alcohol use, and (c) nicotinic-based medications can be used to treat alcohol use disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Women's Health Research at Yale, Yale University School of Medicine, and Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program, Yale Cancer Center, New Haven, Connecticut 06519, USA. sherry.mckee@yale.edu
authors.forename: Sherry A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: McKee
authors.forename: Andrea H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Weinberger
mesh_terms: D000437:Alcoholism / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D015897:Comorbidity; D006801:Humans; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control