Priscilla Martinez | Alcohol Research Group (original) (raw)

Papers by Priscilla Martinez

BMC public health, Apr 18, 2024

Background Alcohol use is an established yet modifiable risk factor for breast cancer. However, r... more Background Alcohol use is an established yet modifiable risk factor for breast cancer. However, recent research indicates that the vast majority of U.S. women are unaware that alcohol use is a risk factor for breast cancer. There is limited information about the sociodemographic characteristics and alcohol use correlates of awareness of the alcohol use and breast cancer link, and this is critically important for health promotion and intervention efforts. In this study, we assessed prevalence of the awareness of alcohol use as a risk factor for breast cancer among U.S. women and examined sociodemographic and alcohol use correlates of awareness of this link. Methods We conducted a 20-minute online cross-sectional survey, called the ABLE (Alcohol and Breast Cancer Link Awareness) survey, among U.S. women aged 18 years and older (N = 5,027) in the fall of 2021. Survey questions assessed awareness that alcohol use increases breast cancer risk (yes, no, don't know/unsure); past-year alcohol use and harmful drinking via the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT); and family, health, and sociodemographic characteristics. We conducted multivariate multinomial regression analysis to identify correlates of awareness that alcohol use increases breast cancer risk. Results Overall, 24.4% reported that alcohol use increased breast cancer risk, 40.2% reported they were unsure, and 35.4% reported that there was no link between alcohol use and breast cancer. In adjusted analysis, awareness of alcohol use as a breast cancer risk factor, compared to not being aware or unsure, was associated with being younger (18-25 years old), having a college degree, and having alcohol use disorder symptoms. Black women were less likely than white women to report awareness of the alcohol use and breast cancer link.

Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology

Random-digit dialing (RDD) telephone surveys are challenged by declining response rates and incre... more Random-digit dialing (RDD) telephone surveys are challenged by declining response rates and increasing costs. Many surveys that were traditionally conducted via telephone are seeking cost-effective alternatives, such as address-based sampling (ABS) with self-administered web or mail questionnaires. At a fraction of the cost of both telephone and ABS surveys, opt-in web panels are an attractive alternative. The 2019–2020 National Alcohol Survey (NAS) employed three methods: (1) an RDD telephone survey (traditional NAS method); (2) an ABS push-to-web survey; and (3) an opt-in web panel. The study reported here evaluated differences in the three data-collection methods, which we will refer to as “mode effects,” on alcohol consumption and health topics. To evaluate mode effects, multivariate regression models were developed predicting these characteristics, and the presence of a mode effect on each outcome was determined by the significance of the three-level effect (RDD-telephone, ABS-...

Supplemental material, Supplementary_materials for Hazardous Drinking Prevalence and Correlates i... more Supplemental material, Supplementary_materials for Hazardous Drinking Prevalence and Correlates in Older New Zealanders: A Comparison of the AUDIT-C and the CARET by Andy Towers, Ágnes Szabó, David A. L. Newcombe, Janie Sheridan, Allison A. Moore, Martin Hyde, Annie Britton, Priscilla Martinez, Nadia Minicuci, Paul Kowal, Thomas Clausen and Christine L. Savage in Journal of Aging and Health

Description of missing data. (PDF 82 kb)

The association between alcohol use and depressive symptoms across

Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 2022

Self-reported alcohol consumption in U.S. public health surveys covers only 30%-60% of per capita... more Self-reported alcohol consumption in U.S. public health surveys covers only 30%-60% of per capita alcohol sales, based on tax and shipment data. To estimate alcohol-attributable harms using alcohol-attributable fractions, accurate measures of total population consumption and the distribution of this drinking are needed. This study compared methodological approaches of adjusting self-reported survey data on alcohol consumption to better reflect sales and assessed the impact of these adjustments on the distribution of average daily consumption (ADC) levels and the number of alcohol-attributable deaths. Prevalence estimates of ADC levels (i.e., low, medium, and high) among U.S. adults who responded to the 2011-2015 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS; N = 2,198,089) were estimated using six methods. BRFSS ADC estimates were adjusted using the National Alcohol Survey, per capita alcohol sales data (from the Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System), or both. Prevalence estimates for the six methods were used to estimate average annual alcohol-attributable deaths, using a population-attributable fraction approach. Self-reported ADC in the BRFSS accounted for 31.3% coverage of per capita alcohol sales without adjustments, 36.1% using indexed-BRFSS data, and 44.3% with National Alcohol Survey adjustments. Per capita sales adjustments decreased low ADC prevalence estimates and increased medium and high ADC prevalence estimates. Estimated alcohol-attributable deaths ranged from approximately 91,200 per year (BRFSS unadjusted; Method 1) to 125,200 per year (100% of per capita sales adjustment; Method 6). Adjusting ADC to reflect total U.S. alcohol consumption (e.g., adjusting to 73% of per capita sales) has implications for assessing the impact of excessive drinking on health outcomes, including alcohol-attributable death estimates.

Substance use & misuse, 2015

Identifying and understanding determinants of alcohol use behavior among Hispanic college student... more Identifying and understanding determinants of alcohol use behavior among Hispanic college students is an increasingly important public health issue, particularly during emerging adulthood. Studies examining ethnocultural determinants of alcohol use behavior among Hispanic college students have focused on direct associations with cultural orientation (e.g., acculturation and enculturation); yet there is a need for research that accounts for the complex interplay of other culturally relevant sociocultural factors. This study examined associations of behavioral acculturation, behavioral enculturation, and cultural congruity (perception of cultural fit between the values of the academic environment and the student's personal values) with alcohol use severity (AUS); and tested if gender moderated those associations. A hierarchical linear regression and moderation analysis were conducted on a sample of 167 Hispanic emerging adults (ages 18-25) enrolled in college. All predictor variab...

Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 2022

INTRODUCTION During the COVID-19 pandemic, online video platforms became the primary mode of acce... more INTRODUCTION During the COVID-19 pandemic, online video platforms became the primary mode of accessing substance use-focused mutual-help group meetings, which may persist after in-person meetings are available again. This study examined the characteristics (demographic, substance use and recovery, and mutual-help group use) of attendees of online recovery support meetings, and associations of online meeting attendance with substance use outcomes, using national data (without ensured representativeness) collected before the pandemic. METHODS Data were from the Peer Alternatives in Addiction (PAL) Study of attendees of 12-step groups (e.g., Alcoholics Anonymous), Women for Sobriety (WFS), LifeRing Secular Recovery (LifeRing), and SMART Recovery (SMART). The baseline sample, collected in 2015 (pre-pandemic), was 647 adults with lifetime alcohol use disorder who were surveyed online at baseline and 6-month (81%) and 12-month follow-up (83%). RESULTS At baseline, 62% (n = 402) had attended an online mutual-help group meeting in their lifetime, and 36% (n = 236) had done so in the past 30 days. Bivariate analyses found that online meeting attendance was more likely among women than men, younger than older participants, and participants with more recent alcohol and drug use, and less abstinence self-efficacy. In addition, online meeting attendance was more likely among respondents who attended two or more different types of mutual-help groups (rather than just one type), and whose primary group was 12-step or WFS rather than LifeRing or SMART. Longitudinal analyses found an interaction between online meeting attendance (yes or no) and time on the outcomes of alcohol and total abstinence such that, compared to those who did not attend online meetings, online meeting attendees were less likely to be abstinent at baseline but were about the same on abstinence at 12 months. However, the interaction effect was attenuated when the model adjusted for mutual-help use characteristics. CONCLUSIONS The findings inform mutual-help groups, providers, and researchers' efforts to sustain and expand this resource by suggesting that online meeting attendance may have appeal and be helpful to mutual-help group members who are earlier in their recovery.

Journal of Community Genetics, 2021

We assessed the feasibility and acceptability of collecting a saliva sample for DNA through the m... more We assessed the feasibility and acceptability of collecting a saliva sample for DNA through the mail from a national sample of drinkers and examined whether targeted messaging would increase the response rates of Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino participants. We invited respondents from two prior national population surveys to participate in a brief telephone survey regarding recent alcohol use and to mail in a self-administered saliva sample. Blacks/African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, and Whites had similar rates of consenting to participate. A higher proportion of respondents with a college education and a family history of alcohol problems consented. The differences in participation between respondents receiving targeted and general messaging were not statistically significant. This study provides preliminary evidence for the feasibility of recruiting diverse participants into a genetic study of alcohol use disorder.

1 SERAF-Norwegian Centre for Addiction Research, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway 2 Innlandet Hos... more 1 SERAF-Norwegian Centre for Addiction Research, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway 2 Innlandet Hospital Trust, Hamar, Norway 3 Department of Public Health, Hedmark University College, Elverum, Norway 4 Alcohol Research Group, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA 5 Research Institute for Internal Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway 6 Section of Clinical Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway 7 Institute of Immunology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway 8 K.G. Jebsen Inflammatory Research Center, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway 9 Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway 10 Department of Immunology, Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway 11 Research Laboratory Nordland Hospital, Bodø and Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway 12 Department of Psychology, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, N...

OBJECTIVE We examined the risk of developing a future alcohol use disorder (AUD) among offspring ... more OBJECTIVE We examined the risk of developing a future alcohol use disorder (AUD) among offspring of families with different constellations of parental risk factors. METHOD We analyzed a sample of 8,774 offspring (50.2% male) from 6,696 two-parent families who participated in the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study in Norway when offspring were 13-19 years old in 1995-1997 or 2006-2008. Based on population registry information and parental Nord-Trøndelag Health Study self-reports, families were classified via Latent Profile Analysis into fiver risk constellations reflecting parents' education, drinking quantities and frequencies, and mental health. Information about AUD-related diagnoses, treatments, and prescriptions for all offspring in the period between 2008 and 2016 was obtained from 3 national health registries and pooled to reflect any AUD. The likelihood of AUD in offspring was examined with a set of nested logistic regression models. RESULTS Registry records yielded 186 AUD case...

Background: Alcohol use is increasing among women in Africa, and comparable information about wom... more Background: Alcohol use is increasing among women in Africa, and comparable information about women’s current alcohol use is needed to inform national and international health policies relevant to the entire population. This study aimed to provide a comparative description of alcohol use among women across 20 African countries. Methods: Data were collected as part of the WHO World Health Survey using standardized questionnaires. In total, 40,739 adult women were included in the present study. Alcohol measures included lifetime abstinence, current use (≥1 drink in previous week), heavy drinking (15+ drinks in the previous week) and risky single-occasion drinking (5+ drinks on at least one day in the previous week). Country-specific descriptives of alcohol use were calculated, and K-means clustering was performed to identify countries with similar characteristics. Multiple logistic regression models were fitted for each country to identify factors associated with drinking status. Resu...

BMC public health, Jan 19, 2015

Little population-based data among middle-aged adults exists examining the relationships between ... more Little population-based data among middle-aged adults exists examining the relationships between depressive symptoms, alcohol use, and socio-economic status (SES). This study aimed to describe the relationships between depressive symptoms and alcohol use at different levels of SES and to determine differences across SES levels among a population-based sample of 40 and 45 year old adults in Norway. This analysis was based on data from two Norwegian health studies conducted in 2000 and 2001, and included community-dwelling Norwegian men and women aged 40 and 45 years. Self-reported frequency and quantity of alcoholic drinks was used to calculate past-year typical quantity of drinks consumed and frequency of 5+ drinks per occasion, or heavy episodic drinking (HED). Depressive symptoms were assessed with the 10-item Hopkins Symptom Checklist, and SES was measured as education level and employment status. To observe the association between depressive symptoms and alcohol use at each leve...

Journal of Clinical Psychology

Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research