Do varsity college athletes have a greater likelihood of risky alcohol and cannabis use than non-athletes? Results from a National Survey in Brazil.

OBJECTIVE: We examined the prevalence of risky alcohol and cannabis use among Brazilian varsity college athletes and whether this group had a greater likelihood of risky use than non-athletes. METHODS: In 2009, Brazilian college students (n=12,711) were recruited for a national stratified random survey. Their sociodemographic characteristics, mental health, substance use, and participation in varsity sports were assessed. Binary logistic regression models were used to examine the association between varsity athlete status and moderate to high-risk alcohol and cannabis use. RESULTS: Among varsity athletes, 67.6 and 10.7% reported risky alcohol and cannabis use, respectively. Varsity athletes had greater odds of risky alcohol consumption than non-athletes (aOR = 2.02, 95%CI 1.08-3.78). Varsity athletes also had greater odds of risky cannabis use than non-athletes in unadjusted analyses (OR = 2.57, 95%CI 1.05-6.28), although this relationship was attenuated after covariate adjustment. CONCLUSIONS: Among college students in Brazil, varsity athletes had a higher prevalence of risky alcohol and cannabis use than non-athletes. The rates were considerably higher than those observed among samples of U.S. college athletes. Future research should examine the use of these substances among varsity college athletes in other middle-income countries since these findings will likely guide prevention and treatment efforts.

Spirituality, Religiosity and Addiction Recovery: Current Perspectives.

Substance use disorders are an important public health problem with a multifactorial etiology and limited effective treatment options. Within this context, spirituality-based approaches may provide interesting and useful options in managing substance use disorders. This kind of intervention can have positive effects in alleviating some core symptoms associated with substance use, such as aggressiveness. Improvement in cessation rates for alcohol, cocaine and opioid use disorders have also been described in some clinical studies. However, spirituality may not play a beneficial role in some subgroups, such as among individuals with crack cocaine and cannabis use disorders. A widely available intervention for alcohol use disorders is Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), which can be seen as a spirituality-based intervention. Spirituality also seems to be especially beneficial for minorities such as Latinos, African-Americans and Native-Americans. Moreover, spiritual-based interventions are also helpful alternatives in many rural environments where conventional healthcare for substance use disorders may not be easily available. However, spiritual-based interventions may be considered as a possible adjunctive therapeutic option to conventional treatments. There is a need for prospective studies outside U.S., especially where spiritual-based approaches are available. It may be difficult to carry out randomized controlled trials because of the nature of the spiritual/ religious dimensions. However, prospective studies that evaluate mediation effect of spirituality and religiosity on recovery would be helpful. Qualitative studies combined with quantitative design offer excellent options to evaluate the recovery process, especially among special populations.

Do varsity college athletes have a greater likelihood of risky alcohol and cannabis use than non-athletes? Results from a National Survey in Brazil

Objective: We examined the prevalence of risky alcohol and cannabis use among Brazilian varsity college athletes and whether this group had a greater likelihood of risky use than non-athletes. Methods: In 2009, Brazilian college students (n=12,711) were recruited for a national stratified random survey. Their sociodemographic characteristics, mental health, substance use, and participation in varsity sports were assessed. Binary logistic regression models were used to examine the association between varsity athlete status and moderate to high-risk alcohol and cannabis use. Results: Among varsity athletes, 67.6 and 10.7% reported risky alcohol and cannabis use, respectively. Varsity athletes had greater odds of risky alcohol consumption than non-athletes (aOR = 2.02, 95%CI 1.08-3.78). Varsity athletes also had greater odds of risky cannabis use than non-athletes in unadjusted analyses (OR = 2.57, 95%CI 1.05-6.28), although this relationship was attenuated after covariate adjustment. Conclusions: Among college students in Brazil, varsity athletes had a higher prevalence of risky alcohol and cannabis use than non-athletes. The rates were considerably higher than those observed among samples of U.S. college athletes. Future research should examine the use of these substances among varsity college athletes in other middle-income countries since these findings will likely guide prevention and treatment efforts.

The role of alcoholic beverage preference in the severity of alcohol dependence and adherence to the treatment.

The severity of dependence on alcohol and the efficacy of diverse types of treatments for alcoholism have been the subject of various researches. This study focused on the types of beverages preferentially consumed by alcohol-dependent outpatients and their effects on the severity of dependence and therapeutic outcomes. Our sample comprised 153 patients, 18-60 years of age, with an International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) diagnosis of alcohol dependence, who were randomly divided into three different groups to receive topiramate (up to 300mg/day), naltrexone (50mg/day), or placebo during 12 weeks of follow-up. Spirits and beer were the main beverages consumed. At the start of this research, the group of spirits drinkers showed higher severity of alcohol dependence, higher craving for alcohol, more frequent history of treatments for alcoholism, and lower income than the group of beer preference drinkers. During the study, beer preference drinkers demonstrated higher adherence to the treatment, independently of the types of medications prescribed (P=.02, odds ratio, 2.46, 95% confidence interval, 1.17-5.19). This study suggests that the severity of dependence and the adherence to the treatment can be factors that set apart beer drinkers from spirits drinkers. As the compliance with the treatment for alcoholism was lower among spirits preference drinkers, a more intensive model of treatment would be necessary.