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Affiliation
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Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies and Department of Anthropology, History and Social Medicine, University of California at San Francisco, 3333 California Street, Suite 265, San Francisco, CA 94118, United States. |
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Abstract
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BACKGROUND: This study examined the concurrent and predictive validity of Type A/B alcohol dependence in the general population-a typology developed in clinical populations to gauge severity of dependence.
METHODS: Data were drawn from Waves 1 and 2 of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC). The sample included 1,172 alcohol-dependent drinkers at baseline who were reinterviewed three years later. Latent class analysis was used to derive Type A/B classification using variables replicating the original Type A/B typology. Predictive validity of the Type A/B classification was assessed by multivariable linear and logistic regressions.
RESULTS: A two-class solution consistent with Babor's original Type A/B typology adequately fit the data. Type B alcoholics in the general population, compared to Type As, had higher alcohol severity and more co-occurring drug, mental, and physical health problems. In the absence of treatment services utilization, Type B drinkers had two times the odds of being alcohol dependent three years later. Among those who utilized alcohol treatment services, Type B membership was predictive of heavy drinking and drug dependence, but not alcohol dependence, three years later.
CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that Type A/B classification is both generalizable to, and valid within, the US general population of alcohol dependent drinkers.
RESULTS highlight the value of treatment for mitigating the persistence of dependence among Type B alcoholics in the general population. Screening for markers of vulnerability to Type B dependence could be of clinical value for health care providers to determine appropriate intervention.
Language: en |