Association between alcohol drinking frequency and depression among adults in the United States: a cross-sectional study

Depression is a major contributor to the global burden of diseases, and alcohol intake is often considered to be associated with depression. However, the relationship between alcohol drinking frequency and depression remains unclear.
A study explored the association between alcohol drinking frequency and depression. Data were collected from NHANES 2009 to 2016, involving 17,466 participants. Depression was diagnosed based on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and alcohol drinking frequency was collected through questionnaire surveys. The relationship between alcohol drinking frequency and depression was investigated, using multifactorial logistic regression models, subgroup analysis, smooth curve fitting, and threshold effect analysis.
Based on the number of drinking days in the past 12 months, participants were evenly divided into five groups from low to high. After adjusting for all covariates (gender, age, race, education level ratio of family income to poverty, BMI, waist circumference, smoking status, presence of coronary artery disease, asthma, gout, hepatopathy, diabetes, congestive heart failure, history of apoplexy, and presence of cancer), the Q3 group had the lowest odds of depression (OR = 0.68; 95% CI: 0.56 ~ 0.82). Through smooth curve fitting, researchers found an “M-shaped” relationship between alcohol drinking frequency and depression. Further threshold effect analysis revealed that the most significant inflection points were 80 and 150 days.
In this cross-sectional study of American adults, the researchers found an “M-shaped” relationship between alcohol drinking frequency and depression, which may partially explain the different effects of moderate alcohol consumption on depression.
The study established a correlation between the frequency of alcohol consumption and depression, indicating that when investigating the impact of alcohol on depression, the frequency of consumption, apart from the amount of alcohol intake, is also a crucial factor affecting the results.
Source: Qi, P., Huang, M. & Zhu, H. Association between alcohol drinking frequency and depression among adults in the United States: a cross-sectional study. BMC Psychiatry 24, 836 (2024).