Tamar Aladashvili1, Mariam Gogichadze1, Nikoloz Oniani1, Nato Darchia1, Tamar Basishvili1
1Ilia State University, T. Oniani Laboratory of Sleep-Wakefulness Cycle Study, Tbilisi, Georgia
Objectives: Harmful use of alcohol is the cause of 3 million deaths and accounts for 5.3% of all deaths worldwide. Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) and depressive disorders are among the most prevalent psychiatric disorders which frequently co-occur. However, the results of few studies investigating causality between these disorders shown contradictory results. On the other hand, the prevalence of insomnia in individuals with AUDs ranges from 31% -91%. The aims of the present study were to: 1. explore the potential link between AUDs and depressive disorders; 2. examine insomnia severity and 3. assess the impact of socioeconomic status (SES) and education level on the incidence of AUDs in Georgian population.
Methods: Study participants completed the following validated questionnaires: Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI); Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and additional self-reported questions about their sociodemographic, socioeconomic status and education level.
Results: Results from 801 volunteers aged 18-65, 336 male and 465 female, are presented. 75% of participants were safe alcohol users (1-7); 13.5% – dangerous alcohol users (8-14); 3.7% – harmful (15-19) and alcohol depended ones – 1.5% (20-40). There was a statistically significant negative correlation between SES of the respondents and the following variables: AUDIT, ISI, BDI. The lower SES was associated with the higher alcohol use disorders (r = -.081, p<0.05), the severity of insomnia (r = -. 121, p <0.01) and the incidence of depression (r = -. 233, p<0.01). The effect of education level on the incidence of alcohol use disorders were analyzed with the ANOVA Dispersion Analysis between the groups. Respondents were divided into 5 groups according to their education level (higher, student, secondary, incomplete secondary, professional education). The analysis showed that there is a statistically significant difference between the groups on AUDIT scores (F= 5.051, p <0.01). The Tukey HSD post-hoc test showed that group with the higher education level had a lower AUDIT score (3.88±4.27) than the group with the secondary education (5.38±4.86).
Conclusion: The results of the present study show that education level and socioeconomic status play an important role in the development of AUDs. Study participants with secondary education and lower SES are more vulnerable to AUDs.
Keywords: Alcohol, ISI, BDI, Socioeconomic Status, Education level, AUDIT