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Moderate Alcohol Consumption and Depression: A Marginal Structural Model Approach Promoting Causal Inference
Rachel Visontay1, Louise Mewton1, Tim Slade1
1Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia (Visontay, Mewton, Slade, Sunderland); Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia (Mewton); Division of Chronic Disease Research Across the Lifecourse, Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston (Aris).
The American Journal of Psychiatry
|January 18, 2023
Summary
Moderate alcohol consumption may causally reduce depression risk. Occasional and moderate drinking at mid-adulthood were linked to lower depression scores compared to abstinence.
Area of Science:
- Epidemiology
- Psychiatry
- Public Health
Background:
- Moderate alcohol consumption is linked to lower depression rates, but causality is debated.
- Distinguishing causal effects from methodological artifacts is crucial for understanding alcohol's impact on mental health.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the causal relationship between alcohol consumption patterns and depression risk at age 50.
- To compare depression outcomes for consistent abstinence, occasional, moderate, and above-guideline alcohol consumption.
Main Methods:
- Secondary analysis of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort.
- Utilized a marginal structural model (MSM) with repeated measurements of alcohol consumption and depression.
- Included baseline and time-varying covariates for 5,667 participants, with 3,593 providing outcome data.
Main Results:
- Occasional and moderate alcohol consumption were associated with significantly reduced depression scores and probable depression at age 50 compared to consistent abstinence.
- Above-guideline alcohol consumption showed a non-significant trend towards increased depression risk.
- Findings were consistent across sexes.
Conclusions:
- Preliminary evidence suggests a potential causal link between moderate alcohol consumption and reduced depression risk.
- Further research employing causal inference methodologies is warranted to confirm these findings.
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