Introduction: Drinking topography is the idea that how a person drinks, in addition to how much they drink, can influence the immediate and long-term effects of alcohol consumption. Measures are often crude, and there has been little effort to associate such measures with disease status. Methods: To address these gaps, an online survey was completed by 734 U.S. participants. They described how they usually drank using a series of 20 words (e.g., chug, nip, nurse, shots). A latent class analysis was performed to identify clusters of descriptors. Past alcohol use history, as measured by the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), and current alcohol cravings, as measured by the Desires for Alcohol Questionnaire (DAQ), were then regression on class assignment. The analysis was adjusted for age, sex, race, ethnicity, marital status, income, and education level. Results: Three LCA classes were accepted, with the class characterized by the words shot, swig, gulp, chug, and guzzle having significantly higher AUDIT (b[95% CI] = 1.22 [0.98, 1.46], p < 0.001) and DAQ (b[95% CI] = 12.9 [10.5, 15.3], p < 0.001) scores relative to the class characterized by sample, sip, and nurse. The third class predominantly used drink and sip, and was not significantly different from the sample class (p's = 0.290-0.471). Conclusions: Measuring drinking topography offers a unique way to identify individuals at risk of an alcohol use disorder or those who may be resistant to treatment. It may also be useful in determining drinking motives. However, additional research is needed.
Long-Term Effects of Minimum Legal Drinking Age Laws on Adult Alcohol Use and Driving Fatalities
