Oct. 3, 1996-Vol28n06: Alcohol, Depression: UB study finds gender differences

Alcohol, Depression: UB study finds gender differences

By LOIS BAKER
News Services Editor

One of the few longitudinal studies to investigate the relationship between gender, depression and alcohol problems in a large community sample has shown that in women, depressive symptoms may lead to alcohol problems over time, while in men, problems with alcohol might subsequently lead to depression.

The results were presented in Boston at the annual meeting of the Society for Epidemiologic Research.

Beth Moscato, research assistant professor in the UB Department of Social and Preventive Medicine and lead author of the study, found that for women, depression predicted subsequent alcohol problems.

Women who initially were classified as depressed were 2-1/2 times more likely to have alcohol problems after three years, than women who were not depressed, she said.

In men, results suggested that alcohol problems appeared first, and were somewhat more likely to lead to depression after three years.

"These findings should be a flag to health practitioners," Moscato said. "If a woman has a high level of depressive symptoms, the practitioner should also evaluate drinking problems over time. If a man has a drinking problem, he may need to be monitored for depression."

This community study was based on 986 adults who were followed for seven years.

Contributing researchers were Maria Zielezny and James R. Marshall, UB Department of Social and Preventive Medicine; Marcia Russell and Pamela Mudar, Research Institute on Addictions in Buffalo; Gladys Egri, UB Department of Psychiatry, and Evelyn Bromet, Department of Psychiatry, SUNY at Stony Brook.