SELF-REPORTED HEALTH-PROBLEMS AND PHYSICAL SYMPTOMATOLOGY IN ADOLESCENT ALCOHOL ABUSERS

Purpose: Few studies have examined the impact of alcohol abuse on the health status of adolescents. The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether adolescents with a diagnosis of alcohol abuse diffe red from controls on the frequency of self-reported health problems, c linical signs and symptoms detected upon clinical examination, and liv er injury test results. Methods: Cases were ascertained from in-patien t drug and alcohol treatment centers. Age- and sex-matched controls we re recruited from community sources. The Health Problems Checklist (HP C) was used to measure self-reported problems; the clinical examinatio n was performed by a physician or a physician's assistant. Results: Al cohol-abusing adolescents reported significantly more physical symptom s than did controls as measured by the HPC. The results of the clinica l examination revealed a low prevalence of overt abnormalities in both groups, however, alcohol-abusing adolescents reported a higher freque ncy of appetite changes, weight loss, eczema, headaches and episodes o f loss of consciousness than did controls. As expected, alcohol-abusin g adolescents had significantly higher levels of ALT, AST and GGTP as compared to controls. Conclusions: The findings of this study are gene ralizable only to in-patient adolescent alcohol abusers. In this study , alcohol abuse was also associated frequently with psychiatric disord ers, drug abuse, cigarette smoking, and low parental education. Future studies using larger sample sizes should address the importance of so cial environmental and behavioral variables in moderating the relation ship between alcohol abuse and decreased health status in adolescents.