Effectiveness of brief alcohol interventions for general practice patients with problematic drinking behavior and comorbid anxiety or depressive disordersDrug and Alcohol Dependence Volume 94, Issues 1-3, 1 April 2008, Pages 214-220
Brief interventions (BIs) are effective methods to reduce problematic drinking. It is not known, if the effectiveness of BI differs between patients with or without comorbid depression or anxiety disorders.
BI were significantly related to reduction of drinking in the non-comorbid (−2.64 g/alcohol vs. −8.61 g/alcohol; p = .03) but not in the comorbid subsample (−22.06 g/alcohol vs. −22.09 g/alcohol; p = .76). Compared to non-comorbid participants, a significantly higher reduction of drinking was found for comorbid individuals (−6.55 g/alcohol vs. −22.08 g/alcohol; p = .01). An ordinal regression analysis revealed comorbidity to be a positive predictor for reduction of drinking (estimator = .594; CI = .175–1.013; p < .01). When entering the variables amount of drinking at baseline, intervention and classification of problematic drinking, these became significant predictors, whereas comorbidity showed only a tendency.
BI did not significantly effect a reduction of drinking in comorbid patients. As BI are known to be less effective for dependent drinkers, a larger proportion of dependents among the comorbid might have limited the effectiveness of BI.
Future studies with larger sample sizes of comorbid problem drinkers are necessary to confirm the results.
Request Reprint E-Mail: Janina.Grothues@psychiatrie.uk-sh.de
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