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Tuesday, March 20, 2007

The NSDUH Report:
Co-Occurring Major Depressive Episode and Alcohol Use Disorder among Adults


Combined data from SAMHSA's 2004 and 2005 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health were used to examine co-occurring alcohol use and depression as well as treatment for these disorders in adults aged 18 or older.

The following prevalence were found: An estimated 7.6% of adults aged 18 or older (approximately 16.4 million adults) had experienced at least one major depressive episode during the past year. An estimated 8% (17.3 million adults) met criteria for alcohol use disorder in the past year. An estimated 1.2% (2.7 million adults) had co-occurring major depressive episode and alcohol use disorder in the past year.

Among adults with past year co-occurring major depressive episode and alcohol use disorder, 48.6% received treatment only for major depressive episode, 1.9% received treatment at a specialty facility only for alcohol use disorder, and 8.8% received treatment for both problems. About 40% received no treatment.

The rate of past year alcohol use disorder was over twice as high among adults who had experienced a major depressive episode (16.2%) compared with adults who had not experienced a major depressive episode in the past year (7.3%).
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