Does binge drinking between the age of 18 and 25 years predict alcohol dependence in adulthood? A retrospective case–control study in France

International audienceObjective A retrospective case–control study wasconducted to evaluate whether frequent binge drinkingbetween the age of 18 and 25 years was a risk factor foralcohol dependence in adulthood.Setting The Department of Addictive Medicine and theClinical Investigation Center of a university hospital inFrance.Participants Cases were alcohol-dependentpatients between 25 and 45 years and diagnosedby a psychiatrist. Consecutive patients referred tothe Department of Addictive Medicine of a universityhospital between 1 January 2017 and 31 December2017 for alcohol dependence were included in the study.Controls were non-alcohol-dependent adults, definedaccording to an Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Testscore of less than 8, and were matched on age and sexwith cases. Data on sociodemographics, behaviour andalcohol consumption were retrospectively collected forthree life periods: before the age of 18 years; betweenthe age of 18 and 25 years; and between the age of 25and 45 years. Frequency of binge drinking between 18and 25 years was categorised as frequent if more thantwice a month, occasional if once a month and never ifno binge drinking.Results 166 adults between 25 and 45 years wereincluded: 83 were alcohol-dependent and 83 werenon-alcohol-dependent. The mean age was 34.6 years(SD: 5.1). Frequent binge drinking between 18 and 25years occurred in 75.9% of cases and 41.0% of controls(p