Risk of Alcohol Use Disorders in Patients with Insomnia: A Population-Based Retrospective Cohort Study
Abstract
Background
The aim of this study was to explore the risk of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) in patients with insomnia.
Methods
This was a population-based retrospective cohort study based on data from 2000 to 2013. Data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database were employed for this study. A total of 8,076 patients with insomnia were identified as the study group. The control group comprised 16,152 age- and sex-matched patients. The researchers conducted a Cox proportional hazard regression analysis to estimate the effects of insomnia on the risk of AUDs.
Results
The overall incidence of AUDs was 753.71 per 100,000 person-years for patients with insomnia, which was significantly higher than the incidence for those in the control group (377.73 per 100,000 person-years). Overall, patients with insomnia had a higher risk of AUDs than did those in the control group (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 1.75, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.42-2.10). The researchers also observed a significantly higher risk of AUDs in patients with both insomnia and depression (adjusted HR = 5.85; 95% CI = 3.13–8.88) than in those without these conditions.
Conclusions
The risk of AUDs in patients with insomnia was found to be significantly higher than that in individuals in the control group; the risk was particularly pronounced among those with insomnia and depression. These conditions thus exhibited a joint effect on AUDs risk.