title: Social and economic consequences of alcohol use disorder: a longitudinal cohort and co-relative analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although alcohol use disorder (AUD) is associated with future risk for psychosocial dysfunction, the degree to which this arises from a direct causal effect of AUD on functioning v. from correlated risk factors (also known as confounders) is less clearly established.
  
  
  METHODS
  AUD was assessed from Swedish medical, criminal and pharmacy registries. In a large general population cohort, using Cox proportional hazard and regression models, we predicted from the onset of AUD four outcomes: early retirement, unemployment, social assistance, and individual income. We then examined the degree to which these associations were attenuated by relevant confounders as well as by the use of discordant cousin, half-sibling, full-sibling, and monozygotic twin pairs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In males, AUD most strongly predicted social assistance [hazard ratio (HR) 8.27, 95% confidence interval (CI) 7.96-8.59], followed by early retirement (HR 5.63, 95% CI 5.53-5.72) and unemployment (HR 2.75, 95% CI 2.65-2.85). For income at age 50, AUD was associated with a decrease in income of 0.24 s.d.s (95% CI -0.25 to -0.23). Results were similar in females. Modest to moderate attenuation of these associations was seen in both sexes after the addition of relevant covariates. These associations were reduced but remained robust in discordant co-relative pairs, including monozygotic twins.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that AUD has a causal impact on a range of measures reflective of psychosocial dysfunction. These findings provide strong support for the drift hypothesis. However, some of the associations between AUD and dysfunction appear to be non-causal and result from shared risk factors, many of which are likely familial.
authors.affiliation: Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University,Richmond, VA,USA.
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Kendler
authors.affiliation: Center for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University,Malmö,Sweden.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohlsson
authors.affiliation: Alcohol Research Group,Public Health Institute,Emeryville,CA,USA.
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Karriker-Jaffe
authors.affiliation: Center for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University,Malmö,Sweden.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sundquist
authors.affiliation: Center for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University,Malmö,Sweden.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sundquist
mesh_terms: D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011632:Public Assistance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012042:Registries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012179:Retirement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D014478:Unemployment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Alcohol use disorder; co-relative design; drift; early retirement; income; social assistance; unemployment