scholarly journals COVID-19 pandemic and alcohol: a problem beyond addiction and psychiatry

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 11-15
Author(s):  
Yury P. Sivolap ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Alcohol Abuse ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Significant Deterioration ◽  
Excessive Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Susceptibility To Infection ◽  
Number Of Patients ◽  
Special Programs ◽  
Excessive Alcohol

The increase in alcohol use during the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the major global health problems. Alcohol abuse is caused by many causes, including the stress associated with the pandemic. The problem of alcohol abuse is getting worse by the difficult access of patients to medical care, and lockdown, including a restrained sale of alcohol, can lead to numerous cases of severe alcohol withdrawal, alcohol psychosis and suicide. Excessive alcohol consumption reduces the immune system, increases susceptibility to infection, including SARS-CoV-2, and contributes to the severe course of COVID-19, increasing the likelihood of complications and death. It is assumed that alcohol abuse during the pandemic will have long-term adverse consequences in the form of significant deterioration of public health, an increase in the number of patients with alcohol dependence and alcoholic liver disease, and an excessive burden on global health. Experts justify the need to apply special programs to help people with alcohol use disorders during the pandemic and develop a set of preventive measures to prevent the adverse long-term consequences of excessive alcohol use.

scholarly journals Alcohol use among sixth-year medical students at the University of the Free State

2002 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
A L Marais ◽  
F J W Calitz ◽  
L U Z Rataemane ◽  
G Joubert
Keyword(s):  
Medical Students ◽  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
The Self ◽  
Free State ◽  
Excessive Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Harmful Use ◽  
Excessive Alcohol ◽  
The University

Introduction. Excessive alcohol consumption among students is cause for concern, not only because medical students them- selves may suffer in the long term but also because of the potential negative impact this may have on their effectiveness as tomorrow’s doctors. Objectives. The aim of the study was to investigate alcohol use among 6th-year medical students at the University of the Free State (UFS) and reasons for their alcohol use. Methods. After a compulsory lecture on an unrelated topic, the 6th-year medical students at the UFS were given a demo- graphic questionnaire, the self-rated Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and a shortened version of the self- rated Inventory of Drug-taking Situations (IDTS) to complete. Conclusion. From the results of this study it is clear that a sig- nificant number of 6th-year medical students at the UFS (28.3%) use alcohol in a harmful way. Most students use alco- hol when they are with friends or in some kind of social setting. However, a number of students use alcohol to cope with stress- ful situations. It is therefore important that the prevention of harmful use of alcohol should receive attention in medical schools.

scholarly journals Excessive alcohol consumption after liver transplantation impacts on long-term survival, whatever the primary indication

2012 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 306-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphanie Faure ◽  
Astrid Herrero ◽  
Boris Jung ◽  
Yohan Duny ◽  
Jean-Pierre Daures ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Liver Transplantation ◽  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Excessive Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Term Survival ◽  
Long Term Survival ◽  
Primary Indication ◽  
Excessive Alcohol

Alcohol-Related Dementia: Rethink How Much You Drink

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (7) ◽  
pp. 324-330
Author(s):  
Raquel Mateus ◽  
Jeannette Y. Wick
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Heavy Drinking ◽  
Excessive Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Care Plans ◽  
Korsakoff Syndrome ◽  
Excessive Alcohol ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Heath Care ◽  
Abstinence From Alcohol

People have consumed alcohol for centuries. Most clinicians who work with people who have dementia acknowledge that alcohol may cause or exacerbate dementia's symptoms. Alcohol-related dementia (ARD) has been recognized since the 1960s, but clinicians rarely use this diagnosis. Regardless, it is common and develops pursuant to long-term excessive alcohol consumption. It may, in some cases, evolve into Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. Diagnosis can be obscured if patients are not truthful about their alcohol consumption. Often, friends or family provide a better picture of the patient's alcohol history than patients do themselves. Thiamine treatment may prevent or improve symptoms. Abstinence from alcohol is critical, but it is difficult for older people with long histories of heavy drinking. Consultant pharmacists can help the heath care team develop nuanced care plans for patients who have ARD.

scholarly journals Increased serum concentration of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin in patients with combined pancreas and kidney transplantation

1997 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 344-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torsten Arndt ◽  
Rolf Hackler ◽  
Thomas Müller ◽  
Tilman O Kleine ◽  
Axel M Gressner
Keyword(s):  
Kidney Transplantation ◽  
Alcohol Abuse ◽  
Serum Concentration ◽  
Normal Values ◽  
Laboratory Diagnosis ◽  
Kidney Transplants ◽  
Excessive Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Chronic Alcohol Abuse ◽  
Carbohydrate Deficient Transferrin ◽  
Excessive Alcohol

Abstract Serum concentration of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (cCDT) is used for laboratory diagnosis and follow-up of chronic alcohol abuse. In analyzing by CDTect-RIA (Pharmacia) sera from outpatients with combined pancreas and kidney transplantation and no excessive alcohol consumption, we found above-normal values for cCDT and CDT/transferrin ratios (CDT/Tf) in more than half of the samples. Isoelectric focusing of these samples showed distinct bands of carbohydrate-deficient isotransferrins, supporting the abnormal findings from the CDTect assay. In contrast, diabetics and outpatients who had received only kidney transplants showed normal values for cCDT, CDT/Tf, and isotransferrin patterns. Increased serum Tf, sialidase-producing microorganisms, and immunosuppressive medication were eliminated as causes of these abnormal cCDT and CDT/Tf results. Successful pancreas transplantation leads to hyperinsulinemia and normoglycemia, in contrast to hypoinsulinemia and hyperglycemia in the patients who receive kidney transplants alone. These factors may have pathogenic importance for CDT increase, yielding results falsely interpreted as positive with respect to alcohol abuse in patients with combined pancreas and kidney transplantation.

scholarly journals Should We Use Carbohydrate-deficient Transferrin instead of γ-Glutamyltransferase for Detecting Problem Drinkers? A Systematic Review and Metaanalysis

2000 ◽  
Vol 46 (12) ◽  
pp. 1894-1902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kay Scouller ◽  
Katherine M Conigrave ◽  
Petra Macaskill ◽  
Les Irwig ◽  
John B Whitfield
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Liquid Chromatography ◽  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Roc Analysis ◽  
Problem Drinkers ◽  
Excessive Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Carbohydrate Deficient Transferrin ◽  
Excessive Alcohol ◽  
Assay Methods ◽  
Better Than

Abstract Background: Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) has been used as a test for excessive alcohol consumption in research, clinical, and medico-legal settings, but there remain conflicting data on its accuracy, with sensitivities ranging from <20% to 100%. We examined evidence of its benefit over a conventional and less expensive test, γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT), and compared the accuracy of different CDT assay methods. Methods: We performed a systematic review using summary ROC analysis of 110 studies prior to June 1998 on the use of CDT in the detection of alcohol dependence or hazardous/harmful alcohol use. Results: We identified several potential sources of bias in studies. In studies examining CDT and GGT in the same subjects, subject characteristics were less likely to influence the comparison. In such paired studies, the original Pharmacia CDT assay was significantly more accurate than GGT, but the modified CDTect assay did not perform as well as the original and was not significantly better than GGT. The accuracy of the AXIS %CDT assay was statistically indistinguishable from modified CDTect. Several CDT assay methods appeared promising, in particular, liquid chromatography (chromatofocusing, HPLC, fast protein liquid chromatography) and isoelectric focusing, but there were insufficient paired studies from which to draw firm conclusions. Conclusions: In studies published before June 1998, the results obtained with commercially available CDT assays were not significantly better than GGT as markers of excessive alcohol use in paired studies. Further high-quality studies comparing CDTect (modified) and other CDT assays with GGT in the same subjects are needed.

scholarly journals Cultural Differences in Tweeting about Drinking Across the US

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 1125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salvatore Giorgi ◽  
David B. Yaden ◽  
Johannes C. Eichstaedt ◽  
Robert D. Ashford ◽  
Anneke E.K. Buffone ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Drunk Driving ◽  
Driving Under The Influence ◽  
Behavioral Risk ◽  
Excessive Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Linguistic Markers ◽  
Community Project ◽  
The Us ◽  
Excessive Alcohol

Excessive alcohol use in the US contributes to over 88,000 deaths per year and costs over $250 billion annually. While previous studies have shown that excessive alcohol use can be detected from general patterns of social media engagement, we characterized how drinking-specific language varies across regions and cultures in the US. From a database of 38 billion public tweets, we selected those mentioning “drunk”, found the words and phrases distinctive of drinking posts, and then clustered these into topics and sets of semantically related words. We identified geolocated “drunk” tweets and correlated their language with the prevalence of self-reported excessive alcohol consumption (Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System; BRFSS). We then identified linguistic markers associated with excessive drinking in different regions and cultural communities as identified by the American Community Project. “Drunk” tweet frequency (of the 3.3 million geolocated “drunk” tweets) correlated with excessive alcohol consumption at both the county and state levels (r = 0.26 and 0.45, respectively, p < 0.01). Topic analyses revealed that excessive alcohol consumption was most correlated with references to drinking with friends (r = 0.20), family (r = 0.15), and driving under the influence (r = 0.14). Using the American Community Project classification, we found a number of cultural markers of drinking: religious communities had a high frequency of anti-drunk driving tweets, Hispanic centers discussed family members drinking, and college towns discussed sexual behavior. This study shows that Twitter can be used to explore the specific sociocultural contexts in which excessive alcohol use occurs within particular regions and communities. These findings can inform more targeted public health messaging and help to better understand cultural determinants of substance abuse.

Mental well-being in subjects with long-term excessive alcohol consumption

Alcohol ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-105
Author(s):  
Matts Eriksson ◽  
Ulf Berggren ◽  
Claudia Fahlke ◽  
Ernest Hård ◽  
Jan Balldin
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Excessive Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Excessive Alcohol ◽  
Mental Well Being

scholarly journals The Association Between Social Networking Sites and Alcohol Abuse Among Belgian Adolescents

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 207-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Femke Geusens ◽  
Kathleen Beullens
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Abuse ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Drinking Behavior ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Risky Drinking ◽  
Excessive Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Excessive Alcohol

Abstract. Both consuming alcohol and using social networking sites (SNS) are popular pastimes among adolescents. The current cross-sectional study (N = 3,133) aims to explore the relation between being exposed to and displaying alcohol-related content on SNS with alcohol abuse among adolescents aged 16–20 years. First, the results support that displaying alcohol-related content on SNS is more strongly associated with alcohol abuse than exposure to this kind of content. Furthermore, the associations of both exposure to and displaying alcohol-related content on SNS with alcohol abuse are mediated through perceived social norms of friends and attitudes toward excessive alcohol consumption. Yet, whereas alcohol-related attitudes and social norms seemed to be equally important mediators in the relation between exposure to alcohol-related content on SNS and alcohol abuse, the association between displaying alcohol-related content on SNS and alcohol abuse seemed to be mediated predominantly through a change in alcohol-related attitudes. Overall, this study sheds more light on the complex relations between SNS use and risky drinking behavior among adolescents.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document