Pain Linked to Increased Risk of Hazardous Drinking in Smokers

Experiencing frequent or intense pain is linked to hazardous drinking in people who smoke tobacco, astudy in theAmerican Journal on Addictions has found. The study also suggests that the impact of pain on a person ’s mood may be partly to blame.“Relative to the general population, smokers are four times more likely to be dependent on alcohol and are more likely to experience severe pain,” wrote Lisa R. LaRowe, M.S., of Syracuse University in New York and colleagues. To examine the relationship between pain and alcohol use among smokers , the researchers analyzed measurements of pain and alcohol use in 225 people who smoked at least 15 tobacco cigarettes a day, with an average of 22 tobacco cigarettes a day.Participants rated the amount of bodily pain they experienced in the four weeks prior to the study on a 6-point scale, with 0 representing “none” and 5 representing “very severe.” They also rated the intensity of their pain over the previous 24 hours on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 representing the most severe. The researchers used the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and the Alcohol Urge Questionnaire to determ ine how much alcohol the participants drank, whether the participants’ alcohol use was hazardous, and whether the participants experienced a strong urge to drink. The researchers also measured the intensity of the participants’ negative emotions via the negative affect subscale of the Positive a nd Negative Affect Schedule.Approxima...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: alcohol AUDIT cigarettes hazardous drinking Lisa LaRowe pain pain severity smokers substance use disorders the American Journal on Addictions Source Type: research