Prospective Study Examining the Effects of Extreme Drinking on Brain Structure in Emerging Adults.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Background
Emerging adulthood is a critical neurodevelopment period in which extreme drinking has a potentially pronounced neurotoxic effect. Therefore, extreme drinking, even a single episode, could be particularly harmful to the developing brain's structure. Relatedly, heavy alcohol use in emerging adults has been associated with structural brain damage, especially in the corpus callosum. However, it is unclear whether and how much a single extreme drinking episode would affect brain morphometry.Methods
For the first time in the literature, the current study prospectively examined the impact of an extreme drinking episode (i.e., twenty-first birthday celebration) on the brain morphometry of emerging adults immediately following their birthday celebration (n = 50) and approximately 5 weeks post-birthday celebration (n = 29).Results
We found evidence that a single extreme drinking episode was associated with structural changes immediately post-birthday celebration. Specifically, higher twenty-first birthday estimated blood-alcohol concentration was associated with decreased volume of the posterior and central corpus callosum immediately post-birthday celebration. This extreme drinking episode was not associated with further structural changes, or recovery, 5 weeks post-twenty-first birthday celebration.Conclusions
Overall, results suggest that a single episode of heavy drinking in emerging adulthood may be associated with immediate structural changes of the corpus callosum. Thus, emerging adulthood, which is characterized by high rates of extreme drinking, could be a critical period for targeted prevention and intervention.
SUBMITTER: Hua JPY
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7680366 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:BACKGROUND:Descriptive norms are commonly associated with participant drinking. However, study participants may incorrectly perceive that their peers drink about the same amount as they do, which would bias estimates of drinking homogeneity. OBJECTIVES:This research examined the magnitude of associations between emerging adults' reports of their own drinking and peer drinking measured the previous year by measures of (1) participants' perceptions of friends' drinking; and (2) actual drinking reported by nominated peers. METHODS:The data are from annual surveys conducted in 2014 and 2015, Waves 4 and 5 (the first 2 years after high school) of 7 annual assessments as part of the NEXT Generation Health Study (n = 323). Associations of participant alcohol use with perceived friend use (five closest, closest male, and closest female friends), and with actual peer use. Logistic regression analyses estimated the magnitudes of prospective associations between each measure of peer drinking at W4 and participant drinking at W5.
| S-EPMC6146965 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThere is little research on group process for motivational interviewing-based group interventions with young people. We examine how change talk, group climate and cohesion, and facilitator empathy among emerging adults experiencing homelessness affect their drinking outcomes.MethodsData come from a clinical trial at three drop-in centers serving emerging adults experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County and focus on those who received the intervention (n = 132). Participants completed baseline, 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up surveys. They were predominantly male and non-white. Group sessions were digitally recorded and coded for percentage change talk (PCT), group climate and cohesion, and facilitator empathy.ResultsBecause baseline alcohol use was significantly higher at site 1 than sites 2 and 3, we examined associations separately by site. At 6 months, higher PCT was associated with fewer drinks per drinking day for sites 2 and 3, whereas higher PCT was associated with more drinks per drinking day for site 1. There were no effects of PCT at 12 months. Higher group cohesion scores were associated with fewer drinking days at 6 months; higher facilitator empathy was associated with fewer maximum drinks in a day at both 6 and 12 months. Group climate was not associated with drinking outcomes.ConclusionsThese findings highlight the importance of measuring multiple factors in the group process to understand outcomes. What is "uttered" during group and what is observed provide different methods to evaluate the group process and allow us to better bridge the gap between research and practice.
| S-EPMC10939735 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Determining the optimal timing and progression of mobility exercise has the potential to affect functional recovery of critically ill adults. This study compared standard care with care delivered using a mobility protocol. We examined the effects of exercise on vital signs and inflammatory biomarkers and the effects of the nurse-initiated mobility protocol on outcomes.Prospective, repeated measures study with a control (standard care) and intervention (protocol) period.75 heterogeneous subjects admitted to a Medical or Surgical intensive care unit (ICU) were enrolled. In <5% of exercise periods, there was a concerning alteration in respiratory rate or peripheral oxygen saturation; no other adverse events occurred. Findings suggested the use of a protocol with one 20 minute episode of exercise daily for 2 or more days reduced ICU length of stay. Duration of exercise was linked to increased IL-10, suggesting brief episodes of low intensity exercise positively altered inflammatory dysregulation in this sample.A growing body of evidence demonstrates that early, progressive exercise has significant benefits to intubated adults. These results should encourage clinicians to add mobility protocols to the care of ICU adults and lead to future studies to determine optimal "dosing" of exercise in ICU patients.
| S-EPMC3783509 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Findings of cerebral cortical atrophy, white matter lesions and microhemorrhages have been reported in high-altitude climbers. The aim of this study was to evaluate structural cerebral changes in a large cohort of climbers after an ascent to extreme altitudes and to correlate these findings with the severity of hypoxia and neurological signs during the climb.Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies were performed in 38 mountaineers before and after participating in a high altitude (7126 m) climbing expedition. The imaging studies were assessed for occurrence of new WM hyperintensities and microhemorrhages. Changes of partial volume estimates of cerebrospinal fluid, grey matter, and white matter were evaluated by voxel-based morphometry. Arterial oxygen saturation and acute mountain sickness scores were recorded daily during the climb.On post-expedition imaging no new white matter hyperintensities were observed. Compared to baseline testing, we observed a significant cerebrospinal fluid fraction increase (0.34% [95% CI 0.10-0.58], p = 0.006) and a white matter fraction reduction (-0.18% [95% CI -0.32--0.04], p = 0.012), whereas the grey matter fraction remained stable (0.16% [95% CI -0.46-0.13], p = 0.278). Post-expedition imaging revealed new microhemorrhages in 3 of 15 climbers reaching an altitude of over 7000 m. Affected climbers had significantly lower oxygen saturation values but not higher acute mountain sickness scores than climbers without microhemorrhages.A single sojourn to extreme altitudes is not associated with development of focal white matter hyperintensities and grey matter atrophy but leads to a decrease in brain white matter fraction. Microhemorrhages indicative of substantial blood-brain barrier disruption occur in a significant number of climbers attaining extreme altitudes.
| S-EPMC4625036 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In the current investigation, we sought to examine "day-of-the-week" drinking of an at-risk sample of nonstudent emerging adults and whether specific factors are associated with differential drinking patterns. Our study aims were to (a) identify differences in weekday versus weekend drinking, and (b) examine specific expectancies (i.e., sociability, tension reduction) and demographic factors (e.g., age, sex) relating to weekend versus weekday drinking after controlling for harmful drinking and holiday drinking. Participants were heavy-drinking noncollege attenders recruited from the community (N = 238; 63.4% men, 35.7% women; M age = 21.92 years). They reported daily drinking for the previous 30 days and completed measures of harmful drinking, alcohol expectancies, and demographic information. Results showed that more drinks were consumed on the weekends (i.e., Thursday to Saturday) than weekdays, with 63% of drinks consumed on weekends. Multilevel modeling analyses indicated that weekday drinking was associated with tension-reduction expectancies, social expectancies, sex, and age. Weekend-drinking increases were related to social expectancies, but not tension-reduction expectancies. Our final model indicated that, after controlling for the effect of holiday drinking, the within-person weekday-weekend distinction explained 18% of the total variance. In general, our findings highlight the importance of alcohol expectancies and drinking contexts in understanding the drinking behaviors of nonstudents. The differential role of tension-reduction and social-facilitation expectancies on drinking throughout the week imply that different cognitive pathways are involved in weekday versus weekend drinking, and both types of expected alcohol effects should be targets of risk-reduction efforts with nonstudent drinkers.
| S-EPMC4828908 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This study investigated the effect of childhood supervisory neglect on emerging adults' drinking. Child supervisory neglect is the most common form of child maltreatment in the United States, but few studies explore supervisory neglect separate from other forms of maltreatment among emerging adults, 18-25 years old. The study sample included (n = 11,117) emerging adults, 18-25 years old who participated in Waves I and III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). We conducted separate analyses for male and female emerging adults, because they have different rates of alcohol consumption and alcohol risk behaviors. Our study used latent class analysis to understand how patterns of alcohol risk behaviors clustered together. For males, we found the following four classes: (1) multiple-risk drinkers, (2) moderate-risk drinkers, (3) binge-drinkers, and (4) low-risk drinkers or abstainers. For females, we found the following three classes: (1) multiple-risk drinkers, (2) moderate-risk drinkers, and (3) low-risk drinkers or abstainers. For both males and females, supervisory neglect increased the odds of membership in the multiple-risk drinkers' class compared to the low-risk drinkers or abstainers' class. Single males who did not live with their parents, and who were white had increased odds of being in the multiple-risk drinkers. For females, being more educated, or in a serious romantic relationship increased the odds of membership in the multiple-risk drinkers' class. Practitioners should ask about histories of supervisory neglect among emerging adults who engage in alcohol risk behaviors.
| S-EPMC4832597 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Onset of alcohol use by 14 relative to 21 years of age strongly predicts elevated risk for severe alcohol use problems, with 27% versus 4% of individuals exhibiting alcohol dependence within 10 years of onset. What remains unclear is whether this early alcohol use (i) is a marker for later problems, reflected as a pre-existing developmental predisposition, (ii) causes global neural atrophy or (iii) specifically disturbs neuro-maturational processes implicated in addiction, such as executive functions or reward processing. Since our group has demonstrated that a novel intervention program targeting personality traits associated with adolescent alcohol use can prevent the uptake of drinking and binge drinking by 40 to 60%, a crucial question is whether prevention of early onset alcohol misuse will protect adolescent neurodevelopment and which domains of neurodevelopment can be protected.A subsample of 120 youth at high risk for substance misuse and 30 low-risk youth will be recruited from the Co-Venture trial (Montreal, Canada) to take part in this 5-year follow-up neuroimaging study. The Co-Venture trial is a community-based cluster-randomised trial evaluating the effectiveness of school-based personality-targeted interventions on substance use and cognitive outcomes involving approximately 3800 Grade 7 youths. Half of the 120 high-risk participants will have received the preventative intervention program. Cognitive tasks and structural and functional neuroimaging scans will be conducted at baseline, and at 24- and 48-month follow-up. Two functional paradigms will be used: the Stop-Signal Task to measure motor inhibitory control and a modified version of the Monetary Incentive Delay Task to evaluate reward processing.The expected results should help identify biological vulnerability factors, and quantify the consequences of early alcohol abuse as well as the benefits of early intervention using brain metrics.
| S-EPMC5153672 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundHeavy episodic drinking (HED) is a major public health problem among emerging adults (individuals 18 to 25), but with considerable heterogeneity in concurrent substance use and psychopathology. The current study used latent profile analysis (LPA) to detect discrete subgroups of HED based on alcohol, other drug severity, and concurrent psychopathology. A reinforcer pathology approach was used to understand motivational differences among the latent subgroups.MethodsParticipants were 2 samples of emerging adults reporting regular HED, 1 Canadian (n = 730) and 1 American (n = 602). Indicators for the LPA were validated dimensional self-report assessments of alcohol severity, cannabis severity, other drug severity, nicotine dependence, depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Reinforcer pathology indicators were measures of alcohol demand, proportionate substance-related reinforcement, and discounting of future rewards.ResultsThe LPA yielded parallel 3-class solutions in both samples. The largest subgroup was characterized by comparatively low substance severity and psychopathology (Low overall severity). The second largest subgroup was characterized by comparatively high alcohol and other drug severity (excluding tobacco) and high levels of psychopathology (Heavy alcohol & high psychiatric severity). The third subgroup exhibited high alcohol, smoking and intermediate levels of other substance use and psychopathology (Heavy alcohol, smoking, & intermediate psychiatric severity). The Heavy alcohol & high psychiatric severity and Heavy alcohol, smoking, & intermediate psychiatric severity subgroups exhibited significantly higher alcohol demand, greater proportionate substance-related reinforcement, and steeper delay discounting.ConclusionsParallel latent subgroups of emerging adults engaging in HED were present in both samples, and the high-risk subgroups were significantly differentiated by the reinforcer pathology indicators. These latent profiles may ultimately inform heterogeneity in the longitudinal course of HED in emerging adults.
| S-EPMC7841846 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundIn China, cigarette consumption has increased substantially since the 1980s, almost exclusively in men. This study was aimed at assessing the emerging cancer risks.MethodsA nationwide, prospective study recruited 210,259 men and 302,632 women aged 30 to 79 years from 10 areas of China from 2004 to 2008; approximately 18,000 incident cancers were recorded during 7 years of follow-up. Cox regression yielded adjusted risk ratios (RRs) comparing smokers (including those who had stopped because of illness but not those who had stopped by choice) with never-smokers.ResultsAmong men, 68% were smokers; their overall cancer risk was significantly increased (RR, 1.44; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.37-1.53), and it was greater in urban (RR, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.41-1.70) than in rural areas (RR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.30-1.49). This excess accounted for 23% of all cancers between the ages of 40 and 79 years, with significantly elevated risks of lung cancer (RR, 2.51; 95% CI, 2.18-2.90), liver cancer (RR, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.12-1.54), stomach cancer (RR, 1.34; 95% CI, 1.16-1.55), esophageal cancer (RR, 1.47; 95% CI, 1.24-1.73), and an aggregate of 5 other minor sites (RR, 1.52; 95% CI, 1.25-1.86). For lung cancer, the RRs were much greater for nonadenocarcinoma (RR, 5.83; 95% CI, 5.02-6.77) than for adenocarcinoma (RR, 1.78; 95% CI, 1.36-2.34). Among exsmokers (6.7%) who had stopped by choice, there was little excess cancer risk approximately 15 years after quitting. Among the few female smokers (3%), the overall cancer risk was also significantly increased (RR, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.28-1.57). Smoking was estimated to cause approximately 435,000 new cancers per year in China (approximately 360,000 in men and approximately 75,000 in women).ConclusionsIn China, smoking now causes a quarter of all adult male cancers. High male uptake rates before the age of 20 years and nearly universal use of cigarettes foreshadow substantial tobacco-attributed risks in China unless there is widespread cessation.
| S-EPMC4584499 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Novel alcohol prevention strategies are needed for heavy-drinking young adults. Sleep problems are common among young adults who drink heavily and are a risk factor for developing an alcohol use disorder (AUD). Young adults, interested in the connection between sleep and alcohol, are open to getting help with their sleep. Therefore, sleep interventions may offer an innovative solution. This study evaluates social media advertising for reaching young adults and recruiting them for a new alcohol prevention program focused on sleep. OBJECTIVE:This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and cost of using Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat advertising to reach young adults who drink heavily for a sleep intervention; characterize responders' sleep, alcohol use, and related concerns and interests; and identify the most appealing advertising content. METHODS:In study 1, advertisements targeting young adults with sleep concerns, heavy alcohol use, or interest in participating in a sleep program ran over 3 months. Advertisements directed volunteers to a brief web-based survey to determine initial sleep program eligibility and characterize the concerns or interests that attracted them to click the advertisement. In study 2, three advertisements ran simultaneously for 2 days to enable us to compare the effectiveness of specific advertising themes. RESULTS:In study 1, advertisements generated 13,638 clicks, 909 surveys, and 27 enrolled volunteers in 3 months across the social media platforms. Fees averaged US $0.27 per click, US $3.99 per completed survey, US $11.43 per volunteer meeting initial screening eligibility, and US $106.59 per study enrollee. On average, those who completed the web-based survey were 21.1 (SD 2.3) years of age, and 69.4% (631/909) were female. Most reported sleep concerns (725/909, 79.8%) and an interest in the connection between sleep and alcohol use (547/909, 60.2%), but few had drinking concerns (49/909, 5.4%). About one-third (317/909, 34.9%) were identified as being at risk for developing an AUD based on a validated alcohol screener. Among this subsample, 8.5% (27/317) met the final criteria and were enrolled in the trial. Some volunteers also referred additional volunteers by word of mouth. In study 2, advertisements targeting sleep yielded a higher response rate than advertisements targeting alcohol use (0.91% vs 0.56% click rate, respectively; P<.001). CONCLUSIONS:Social media advertisements designed to target young adults with sleep concerns reached those who also drank alcohol heavily, despite few being concerned about their drinking. Moreover, advertisements focused on sleep were more effective than those focused on drinking. Compared with previous studies, cost-effectiveness was moderate for engagement (impressions to clicks), excellent for conversion (clicks to survey completion), and reasonable for enrollment. These data demonstrate the utility of social media advertising focused on sleep to reach young adults who drink heavily and recruit them for intervention.
| S-EPMC7448185 | biostudies-literature