title: Intermittent Explosive Disorder and Substance Use Disorder: Analysis of the National Comorbidity Survey Replication Sample.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A relationship between aggression and substance use has been debated for many years. While substance use increases the risk of aggressive behavior, no studies have reported on the relationship between impulsive aggression and substance use/disorder, specifically.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed data from the community-based National Comorbidity Survey Replication (N = 9,282 subjects) in order to examine the relationship between current DSM-5 intermittent explosive disorder (IED), a disorder of impulsive aggression, and current substance use disorders (SUDs), overall, and with regard to alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis use disorders and nondisordered use.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Occurrence of current SUD was elevated in current IED versus non-IED adult subjects, and onset of IED preceded that of SUD in 92.5% of comorbid IED + SUD cases. This relationship was not due to the presence, or absence, of current depressive or anxiety disorders. Examination of the severity of IED and of SUD revealed that the presence of IED increases SUD severity but that the presence of SUD does not increase IED severity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Subjects with IED are at increased risk of developing SUD, compared with those without IED. This suggests that history of recurrent, problematic, impulsive aggression is a risk factor for the later development of SUD rather than the reverse. If so, effective treatment of impulsive aggression, before the onset of substance misuse, may prevent, or delay, the development of SUD in young people.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, The University of Chicago, 5841 S Maryland Ave, Chicago, IL 60637. ecoccaro@yoda.bsd.uchicago.edu.|Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, Pritzker School of Medicine, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Emil F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Coccaro
authors.affiliation: Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, Pritzker School of Medicine, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Fanning
authors.affiliation: Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, Pritzker School of Medicine, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Royce
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression; D015897:Comorbidity; D007174:Disruptive, Impulse Control, and Conduct Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012306:Risk; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult