Association between Alcohol Consumption and Health-Related Quality of Life among Hospital and Ambulatory Care Patients with Past Year Depressive Symptoms

Kristian Krause; Diana Guertler; Anne Moehring; Anil Batra; Sandra Eck; Hans-Jürgen Rumpf; Gallus Bischof; Maresa Buchholz; Ulrich John; Christian Meyer

doi:10.3390/ijerph192214664

Association between Alcohol Consumption and Health-Related Quality of Life among Hospital and Ambulatory Care Patients with Past Year Depressive Symptoms

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Nov 8;19(22):14664. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192214664.

Authors

Kristian Krause¹, Diana Guertler^{2

3}, Anne Moehring^{2

3}, Anil Batra⁴, Sandra Eck⁴, Hans-Jürgen Rumpf⁵, Gallus Bischof⁵, Maresa Buchholz⁶, Ulrich John^{2

3}, Christian Meyer^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Evangelic Hospital Bethania, Gützkower Landstraße 69, 17489 Greifswald, Germany.
² Department of Prevention Research and Social Medicine, Institute for Community Medicine, University Medicine Greifswald, Walther-Rathenau-Straße 48, 17475 Greifswald, Germany.
³ DZHK (German Center for Cardiovascular Research), Partner Site Greifswald, Fleischmannstraße 42-44, 17489 Greifswald, Germany.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Tübingen, Geissweg 3, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
⁵ Research Group S:TEP, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23583 Lübeck, Germany.
⁶ German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Site Rostock/Greifswald, Ellernholzstraße 1-2, 17489 Greifswald, Germany.

Abstract

Background: Little is known about how substance use affects health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in depressed individuals. Here, associations between alcohol consumption and HRQOL in hospital and ambulatory care patients with past-year depressive symptoms are analyzed.

Method: The sample consisted of 590 participants (26.8% non-drinkers) recruited via consecutive screenings. Individuals with alcohol use disorders were excluded. HRQOL was assessed with the Veterans Rand 12-item health survey (VR-12). Multivariable fractional polynomials (MFP) regression analyses were conducted (1) to test for non-linear associations between average daily consumption and HRQOL and (2) to analyze associations between alcohol consumption and the physical and mental health component summaries of the VR-12 and their subdomains.

Results: Alcohol consumption was positively associated with the physical health component summary of the VR-12 (p = 0.001) and its subdomains general health (p = 0.006), physical functioning (p < 0.001), and bodily pain (p = 0.017), but not with the mental health component summary (p = 0.941) or any of its subdomains. Average daily alcohol consumption was not associated with HRQOL.

Conclusion: Alcohol consumption was associated with better physical HRQOL. Findings do not justify ascribing alcohol positive effects on HRQOL. Data indicate that non-drinkers may suffer from serious health disorders. The results of this study can inform the development of future alcohol- and depression-related interventions.

Keywords: VR-12; alcohol consumption; depression; health-related quality of life; intervention development.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Alcoholism* / epidemiology
Alcoholism* / psychology
Ambulatory Care
Depression / epidemiology
Hospitals
Humans
Quality of Life* / psychology

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the research consortium on addiction, AERIAL, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Grant Numbers: FKZ 01EE1406F, FKZ 01EE1406E, FKZ 01EE406H). The funding source had no further role in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data.