Laboratory alcohol self-administration experiments do not increase subsequent real-life drinking in young adult social drinkers.

BackgroundWhile the utility of experimental free-access alcohol self-administration paradigms is well established, little data exist addressing the question of whether study participation influences subsequent natural alcohol consumption. We here present drinking reports of young adults before and after participation in intravenous alcohol self-administration studies. MethodsTimeline Follow-back drinking reports for the 6weeks immediately preceding the first, and the 6weeks after the last experimental alcohol challenge were examined from subjects completing 1 of 2 similar alcohol self-administration paradigms. In study 1, 18 social drinkers (9 females, mean age 24.1years) participated in 3 alcohol self-infusion sessions up to a maximum blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 160mg%. Study 2 involved 60 participants (30 females, mean age 18.3years) of the Dresden Longitudinal Study on Alcohol Use in Young Adults (D-LAYA), who participated in 2 sessions of alcohol self-infusion up to a maximum BAC of 120mg%, and a nonexposed age-matched control group of 42 (28 females, mean age 18.4years) subjects. ResultsIn study 1, participants reported (3.7%) fewer heavy drinking days as well as a decrease of 2.5 drinks per drinking day after study participation compared to prestudy levels (p<0.05, respectively). In study 2, alcohol-exposed participants reported 7.1% and non-alcohol-exposed controls 6.5% fewer drinking days at poststudy measurement (p<0.001), while percent heavy drinking days and drinks per drinking day did not differ. ConclusionsThese data suggest that participation in intravenous alcohol self-administration experiments does not increase subsequent real-life drinking of young adults.