Alcohol Drinking in Chinese Methadone-maintained Clients: A Self-medication for Depression and Anxiety?

This study examined the drinking pattern and its association with methadone dose, and depressive and anxiety symptoms in Chinese clients undergoing MMT. Methods: A secondary data analysis was conducted with data from a large-scale cross-sectional survey of 549 clients of 3 MMT clinics in Wuhan, China. Depression, anxiety, and alcohol dependence were measured with Zung Self-rating Depression Scale, Zung Self-rating Anxiety Scale, and Alcohol Dependence Scale, respectively. Drinking pattern was assessed using 3 indicators: weekly amount of alcohol consumed, weekly frequency of alcohol consumed, and severity of alcohol dependence. Results: The prevalence of current drinking, hazardous drinking, regular drinking, and alcohol abuse/dependence was 29.0%, 10.4%, 14.2%, and 8.7%, respectively. In adjustment analyses, relative to nondrinkers, drinkers had significantly lower weight-based methadone dose (β = −0.136, P = 0.008); hazardous drinkers, irregular drinkers, and drinkers without alcohol abuse/dependence had less severe depression (β = −3.67, P = 0.004; β = −2.37, P = 0.034; β = −3.20, P = 0.001) and anxiety (β = −4.90, P 
Source: Journal of Addiction Medicine - Category: Addiction Tags: Original Research Source Type: research