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Predictors of hazardous alcohol consumption among patients with cluster headache.

Schürks M, Kurth T, Knorn P, Pageler L, Diener HC

Department of Neurology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany, and Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. schuerks@hotmail.com

The purpose of this study was to identify predictors of hazardous alcohol consumption in patients with cluster headache (CH). We investigated 246 German CH patients with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). The average daily alcohol consumption was 6.5 g. Predictors for hazardous drinking (AUDIT>or=5 points; 21.5% of patients) were male gender [odds ratio (OR) 4.15, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.35, 12.71], episodic as opposed to chronic CH (OR 4.8, 95% CI 1.38, 16.67) and a low demanding job as opposed to a high demanding job (OR 2.28, 95% CI 1.15, 4.51). Our data indicate that CH patients drink less alcohol compared with the German population and that CH seems to protect against hazardous alcohol consumption. Moreover, predictors for hazardous alcohol consumption in CH patients are not different from the general population.

Published 5 May 2006 in Cephalalgia, 26(5): 623-7.
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