Early Alcohol Sensitivity Can Help Predict Predisposition to Alcohol Use Disorder

As a Young Person, Your Sensitivity to Alcohol Can Help Predict Your Predisposition to (AUD) Alcohol Use Disorder

A new study out of the University of Chicago Medicine suggests that young adults who experience the highest sensitivity to alcohol’s pleasurable effects are the most likely to develop an alcohol use disorder over time. While such findings may seem obvious, they conflict with some prominent addiction theories. The study’s lead researcher, Dr. Andrea King, believes the results can help better understand why some individuals are more vulnerable to alcohol use disorder (AUD), while others are able to remain active social drinkers over the course of their lifespans without getting addicted. Dr. King also believes that the research shows the need for a personalized approach for treating AUD and suggests that early sensitivity testing could serve as a basis for “early intervention, comparable to how someone may get their cholesterol tested.”

The study—“Subjective Responses to Alcohol in the Development and Maintenance of Alcohol Use Disorder”—followed 190 light, regular and heavy social drinking young adults in their mid-20s over the course of 10 years to assess their response over time to alcohol use. The study began with a laboratory-based binge drinking session that was used to gauge the subjects’ sensitivity to alcohol. The subjects provided near-annual reports on their drinking behaviors, patterns, and symptoms of AUD. They also participated in two more binge-drinking sensitivity tests during years five and 10 of the study.

At the conclusion of the study, 21 percent of the subjects met the criteria for AUD, with those reporting the greatest alcohol stimulation the first year being most likely to have developed an alcohol addiction 10 years later.

The study also showed an increase in alcohol stimulation and urge to drink in those displaying the greatest alcohol abuse symptoms during the 10-year period. Results show that testing for sensitivity to the euphoric and rewarding effects of alcohol can be used to help predict who might be more susceptible to AUD as they age.

Dr. King noted that in people who progressively engage in excessive drinking find that the pleasurable effects of alcohol become more intense over time. “This tells us that having a higher sensitivity to the rewarding effects of alcohol in the brain puts such individuals at higher risk for developing addiction. Alcoholics were thought to need to drink more to finally get their desired effect when they drink, but these well-controlled data do not support that contention. They get the desirable effect early in the drinking bout and that seems to fuel wanting more alcohol.”

The study’s findings are already being used by Dr. King with her therapy clients.

“It can be frustrating for them to see other people who can have a couple of drinks and just stop there. They can’t understand why they repeatedly seem unable to do that, too, and I tell them, it may be because your brain responds differently to alcohol that makes it harder to stop drinking once you start. Knowing that information can empower a person to make different decisions.”

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Sources:

Caldwell, Alison. “New research challenges existing dogma on addiction.” Jan. 5, 2021. UChicago News. Retrieved at: news.uchicago.edu

University of Chicago Medical Center. “Increase in pleasurable effects of alcohol over time can predict alcohol use disorder.” Jan. 5, 2021. Science News. Retrieved at: sciencedaily.com