The Impact of Stressful Life Events on Excessive Alcohol Consumption in the French Population: Findings from the GAZEL Cohort Study

Abstract

BackgroundMajor life changes may play a causative role in health through lifestyle factors, such as alcohol. The objective was to examine the impact of stressful life events on heavy alcohol consumption among French adults.MethodsTrajectories of excessive alcohol consumption in 20,625 employees of the French national gas and electricity company for up to 5 years before and 5 years after an event, with annual measurements from 1992. We used repeated measures analysis of time series data indexed to events, employing generalized estimating equations.ResultsFor women, excessive alcohol use increased before important purchase (p = 0.021), children leaving home (p<0.001), and death of loved ones (p = 0.03), and decreased before widowhood (p = 0.015); in the year straddling the event, increased consumption was observed for important purchase (p = 0.018) and retirement (p = 0.002); at the time of the event, consumption decreased for marriage (p = 0.002), divorce, widowhood, and death of loved one (all p<0.001), and increased for retirement (p = 0.035). For men, heavy alcohol consumption increased in the years up to and surrounding the death of loved ones, retirement, and important purchase (all p<0.001), and decreased after (all p<0.001, except death of loved one: p = 0.006); at the time of the event, consumption decreased for all events except for children leaving home and retirement, where we observed an increase (all p<0.001). For women and men, heavy alcohol consumption decreased prior to marriage and divorce and increased after (all p<0.001, except for women and marriage: p = 0.01).ConclusionStressful life events promote healthy and unhealthy alcohol consumption. Certain events impact alcohol intake temporarily while others have longer-term implications. Research should disentangle women's and men's distinct perceptions of events over time.

Stress Increases Ethanol Self-Administration via a Shift toward Excitatory GABA Signaling in the Ventral Tegmental Area

“…While many variables contribute to the development of alcohol use disorder (AUD), exposure to stressful life events represents a significant risk factor (Keyes et al, 2012). Stress increases alcohol consumption in alcohol dependent and non-dependent populations (Ayer et al, 2011; Tamers et al, 2014; Thomas et al, 2011), and stress is thought to underlie a transition to pathological drug use (Koob and Le Moal, 2005). Animal studies have revealed interactions between stress and ethanol self-administration under certain stressor and drinking paradigms, but some results have been equivocal (Becker et al, 2011; Noori et al, 2014; Spanagel et al, 2014).…”

Postdetoxification Factors Predicting Alcohol‐Related Emergency Room Visits 12 to 24 Months After Discharge: Results from a Prospective Study of Patients with Alcohol Dependence

“…However, some events may put the patient at risk in the period following hospital discharge. Evidence from cohort studies in the general population indicates that some major life events, including those that affect the individual's family, social, or professional life, influence excessive alcohol drinking among men and women; however, this effect is not necessarily permanent (Tamers et al., ; Yaogo et al., ; Zins et al., ). For individuals with alcohol dependence, life events such as divorce or separation might be associated with relapse (Pilowsky et al., ) and shorter time to death (Lewis et al., ).…”

Association between Depressive Symptoms and Food Insecurity among Indonesian Adults: Results from the 2007–2014 Indonesia Family Life Survey

“…Since the data in this study were repeated measurement data from the same respondents throughout the 7-year follow-up period, the authors used regression models with the generalized estimating equation (GEE) method [38]. The GEE is a statistical approach generally used in the analysis of longitudinal data or repeated measurements [39][40][41][42][43][44], with the primary advantage being that it accounts for the within-adults variation [45]. Firstly, we used a linear regression model with GEE to assess the association between the food consumption score and the CES-D score.…”