TY - JOUR PY - 2014// TI - Differences in subjective response to alcohol in heavy and light drinking Chinese men versus Caucasian American men JO - Addiction A1 - Rueger, Sandra Yu A1 - Hu, Hongxing A1 - McNamara, Patrick A1 - Cao, Dingcai A1 - Hao, Wei A1 - King, Andrea C. SP - 91 EP - 99 VL - 110 IS - 1 N2 - AIMS: Compare subjective responses to alcohol among Han Chinese and Caucasian American males.

DESIGN: Double-blinded, placebo-controlled human laboratory design. Participants completed three randomized experimental sessions with high and low alcohol, and placebo beverage. SETTING: Chinese participants were examined at Xinjiang Medical University, China. Caucasian participants were examined at the University of Chicago, USA. PARTICIPANTS: 70 Han Chinese (35 heavy/35 light drinkers) and 75 Caucasian Americans (43 heavy/32 light drinkers). MEASUREMENTS: Breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) and the Stimulation and Sedation subscales of the Biphasic Alcohol Effects Scale were assessed at pre-drink baseline and four timepoints after beverage consumption. The Like and Want subscales of the Drug Effects Questionnaire were also assessed at the post-drink assessments.

FINDINGS: Comparisons with light drinkers showed that high and low dose alcohol produced decreases in stimulation, liking, and wanting in Chinese vs. Caucasians (ps<.05), and dose-dependent increases in sedation in both groups (ps<0.001). Among heavy drinkers, high dose alcohol produced higher stimulation (p<0.001) but with concomitant higher sedation for both doses (ps<0.05) for Chinese vs. Caucasians. Alcohol also demonstrated significantly lower liking (ps<0.001) in Chinese vs. Caucasian heavy drinkers for both doses. Interestingly, both groups showed dose dependent increases in wanting relative to placebo (ps<0.05), but the magnitude of the increase was lower in Chinese.

CONCLUSIONS: Stimulating effects of alcohol are predominant in Chinese male binge drinkers, as has been found-in Caucasians, but with less hedonic and motivational reward, potentially explaining some of the lower risk for alcohol disorders in Asian subgroups.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0965-2140 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/add.12737 ID - ref1 ER -