Alcohol and drug use following traumatic brain injury: A prospective study

Abstract

More active intervention is needed to reduce alcohol and drug use following TBI.

Changes in Alcohol-Related Behavior Following an Incident of Traumatic Brain Injury

“…There is a highly predictive co-relation between drinking before injury and drinking after injury [14,18,19]. This means a history of alcohol abuse prior to TBI increases the likelihood of alcohol abuse disorders and hazardous drinking post-TBI.…”

“…While the majority of studies show a similar increased preference for alcohol by males as compared to females [12,15,19], others show no significant difference between the sexes [14]. In a study by Weil [21], the juvenile mice that were subjected to brain injury showed an increase in alcohol consumption following the injury which was limited to female mice only.…”

“…Among the adult population who show a decrease in alcohol intake after TBI, patients aged 21 to 30 years showed a greater reduction in the frequency of alcohol intake than 15 to 20 years in one study (3.1 to 1.4 and 1.5 to 1.0 respectively) [17] and similarly, patients less than 25 years returned to drinking at higher levels more than those between 25 to 34 years in another study group [19]. These findings again point towards a difference in the alcohol behavior across age groups with a trend towards increased alcohol preference for patients with TBI at a younger age.…”

“…Again, the levels of post-injury alcohol intake always remained lower as compared to pre-injury levels. Ponsford [19] observed that the proportion of patients drinking at hazardous levels and alcohol dependence increased from 1 year to 2 years post-TBI. The frequency of drinking increased 2 years postinjury as compared to 1 year, with patients drinking 2-3 times or even more than 4 times a week (Table 1).…”

“…Ponsford et al [19] monitored alcohol use of TBI patients for 3 years following injury and found that although the percentage of patients who drank hazardous levels decreased, the frequency of drinking increased. Pagulayan and colleagues followed the drinking pattern over 3 to 5 years and found that majority of participants reported abstinence even at 3 to 5 years which was much higher than pre-injury levels [12].…”