Alcohol dependence and depression among heavy drinkers in Canada

This article describes the prevalence of heavy drinking among the Canadian population and the prevalence of alcohol dependence among heavy drinkers aged 18 or older. It also examines the association of depression to alcohol dependence among the latter group and the correlates of depression and alcohol dependence comorbidity. The data are from a national representative sample of the Canadian population in 2000/01. One in five current drinkers aged 18 or older was classified as a regular heavy drinker. This constituted a significant increase of approximately 2% in the prevalence of heavy drinking from 1996/97 to 2000/01 in Canada (p<0.001). Although men were more likely to be regular heavy drinkers (29.0%) than women (11.1%), male and female heavy drinkers were about equally as likely to be classified as alcohol dependent (11.6% and 11.1%, respectively). While the prevalence of alcohol dependence among men has remained stable, it has decreased by almost 4% among women (p<0.05). Among persons who have experienced a depressive episode in the year prior to their 2000/01 interview, the prevalence of alcohol dependence was estimated at 32.3% while it was 9.5% for persons without depression. When several indicators believed to be risk factors for alcohol dependence including personal characteristics, psychosocial factors, lifestyle behaviours and physical health were included in the logistic regression models, the marked difference in alcohol dependence among depressed and non-depressed heavy drinkers remained. The former had 3.6 times the odds of being classified as alcohol dependent compared to the latter (CI=2.9, 4.3). When the same personal, psychosocial, lifestyle and physical health measures were used to explain comorbidity of depression and alcohol dependence, perceived stress was the only factor that was consistently associated with comorbidity among both men and women.