Exploring the Link between Alcohol Use and Physical Illnesses and Harms Using Network Analysis: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Prolonged use of alcohol is linked to a wide array of adverse health consequences, which are dependent on two factors namely volume and pattern of drinking and the direct biochemical effect of alcohol. In this study, we intended to explore the association between alcohol use and physical illnesses and complications by using a graph-theoretical approach in a population of patients attending drug deaddiction services of two tertiary care hospitals. A total of 180 patients selected randomly were interviewed using specially designed semi-structured proforma. Analysis of data showed regular use and drinking of alcohol once and twice a week have weighted degrees of 360 and 120 respectively and are the most influential factors in the network model and are found to be associated with multiple physical complications like weakness (node strength 108), diabetes (node strength 84) and hypertension (node strength 68). Having “No Problem” is also a common node in all the clusters under examination but the relationship is very weak, suggesting that individuals who drink alcohol might not have any physical consequences. Although this is more likely to be an exceptional discovery than a common one. The main finding of this study was that frequency of drinking is crucial to the physical illnesses and complications associated with alcohol use, so advocating for not drinking regularly or spacing out drinking days can be an ideal strategy to lessen the harms of alcohol use in situations where the ideal scenario of total abstinence may not be feasible.