Table 3.
Health outcomes associated with drinking reductions as defined by the WHO drinking risk levels (drinks per day) and change in WHO risk level between Wave 1 (2001-2002) and Wave 2 (2004-2005) of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC)10,210-212
| Wave 1 WHO risk level and change by Wave 2 |
Alcohol dependence |
SF-12 impaired mental health functioning |
Liver disease | Depression and/or anxiety disorder |
Drug use disorder |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Very high risk | |||||
| No change | R | R | R | R | R |
| Decreased by 1 level | ▼ | ▼ | ▼ | ▼ | ▼ |
| Decreased by 2 levels | ▼ | ▼ | ▼ | ▼ | ▼ |
| Decreased by 3 levels | ▼ | ▼ | ▼ | ▼ | ▼ |
| Became abstainer | --- | ▲ | ▼ | ▼ | --- |
| High risk | |||||
| Increased | ▼ | ▼ | ▼ | ▲ | ▲ |
| No change | R | R | R | R | R |
| Decreased by 1 level | ▼ | ▼ | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ |
| Decreased by 2 levels | ▼ | ▲ | ▼ | ▼ | ▲ |
| Became abstainer | --- | ▼ | ▼ | ▼ | --- |
| Moderate risk | |||||
| Increased | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | ▼ | ▲ |
| No change | R | R | R | R | R |
| Decreased by 1 level | ▼ | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | ▼ |
| Became abstainer | --- | ▲ | ▲ | ▼ | --- |
| Low risk | |||||
| Increased | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ |
| No change | R | R | R | R | R |
| Became abstainer | --- | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | ▼ |
▼= decreased risk; ▲ = increased risk; ▼/▲= p≤0·05; ▼/▲= p>0·05; R = reference group; --- = contrast could not be computed because the prevalence of condition at Wave 2 was 0·0%
Note: AUDIT-C results are not included because there were very high proportions of participants at the WHO very-high-risk and high-risk drinking levels with Wave 1 positive AUDIT-C scores; therefore, adjusted odds of positive Wave 2 AUDIT-C scores by change in WHO drinking risk level could not be produced because the regression models used to produce them did not converge.