Adverse drinking consequences among alcohol abusing intravenous drug users.

Area of Science:

• Addiction Medicine
• Psychometrics
• Public Health

Background:

• Heavy alcohol use is prevalent among out-of-treatment injection drug users (IDUs).
• The interplay between alcohol and drug use in codependent populations remains poorly understood.
• Assessing alcohol-related consequences in IDUs requires validated instruments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Drinker Inventory of Consequences (DrInC) in active injection drug users (IDUs).
• To compare the DrInC scores of active IDUs with a normative sample of individuals seeking alcohol treatment.

Main Methods:

• 187 active IDUs recruited from a needle exchange program completed the DrInC.
• Participants were screened for alcohol use disorders using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test.
• Psychometric properties, including internal consistency and test-retest reliability, were analyzed for 159 participants meeting DSM-IV criteria for alcohol abuse/dependence.

Main Results:

• The DrInC demonstrated high internal consistency and test-retest reliability in the IDU sample.
• Subscale reliability was generally good to very good, with some redundancy noted.
• Active IDUs reported significantly higher adverse impulse control consequences compared to the alcohol treatment-seeking development sample.

Conclusions:

• The DrInC is a psychometrically sound tool for assessing adverse drinking consequences in active IDU populations.
• IDUs with alcohol abuse/dependence reported overall adverse consequences comparable to non-IDU alcohol treatment populations.
• A key difference was the increased likelihood of adverse impulse control consequences among IDUs.