Energy drink consumption patterns and longitudinal relationships to ATOD use

 描述（由申请人提供）：本申请解决了一个非常重要和普遍的公共卫生问题，即酒精、烟草、非医疗处方药使用和非法药物使用及相关问题，这些问题可能对个人健康和安全产生重大影响。本申请的重点是ATOD使用问题的潜在新风险因素，即能量饮料。能量饮料和射击是高咖啡因饮料，在青少年和年轻人中很受欢迎。它们与传统的含咖啡因产品不同，因为它们提供更高的咖啡因剂量，并专门针对青少年销售，使用与危险行为有关的信息。医学界已经对能量饮料的短期健康影响提出了警告，如心脏问题和咖啡因毒性，但长期影响却知之甚少。能量饮料似乎 根据先前的证据，a）能量饮料消费者的酗酒和吸毒率高于平均水平，以及B）高剂量的咖啡因可能通过神经生物学机制增强其他物质的成瘾性。因此，拟议的研究重点是阐明能量饮料，酒精，烟草和其他药物使用模式之间的长期相互关系。研究人员将分析来自一个大型现有纵向数据集（n= 1，253）的八个年度数据波，这些数据集是PI的NIDA资助的成人物质使用行为研究的一部分。这将是第一项利用纵向数据来描述年轻人能量饮料消费的不同长期模式的研究（例如，持续大量使用、减少使用、零星使用）。这项研究还将确定具有不同消费模式的个人之间的区别特征，并记录这些模式中哪些模式可能与随着时间的推移逐步增加或大量使用药物的模式有关。此应用程序使用高级统计方法（例如，增长混合模型），研究小组已经使用该模型来了解纵向物质使用模式。这项研究将补充正在进行的NIH资助的研究，重点关注能量饮料消费和酒精相关问题之间的关系，将重点扩大到包括其他药物，特别是兴奋剂药物（尼古丁，可卡因，处方兴奋剂），这些药物特别可能受到咖啡因神经生物学效应的影响。我们预计，这些发现将为未来对更年轻的青少年样本的研究奠定基础，这些样本中事件药物的风险很高，并且根据国家数据，能量饮料仍在越来越受欢迎。此外，这项研究具有转化的重点，可以导致解决能量饮料健康和安全问题的政策建议。在这项研究中获得的知识将告知青年成人物质使用问题的创新预防策略，并在这方面，是有用的学生，家长，卫生专业人员和政策制定者。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application addresses a highly significant and prevalent public health concern of young adulthood- alcohol, tobacco, nonmedical prescription drug use, and illicit drug use and related problems, which can have major consequences for personal health and safety. The focus of this application is on a potentially new risk factor for problematic ATOD use, namely, energy drinks. Energy drinks and shots are highly caffeinated beverages that are popular among adolescents and young adults. They differ from traditional caffeinated products in that they deliver higher caffeine doses and are marketed specifically to youth using messages that are related to risky behaviors. The medical community has already cautioned against energy drinks' short-term health effects, such as cardiac problems and caffeine toxicity, yet longer-term effects are poorly understood. It is plausible that energy drink consumption might contribute over time to the intensification of substance use patterns, based on prior evidence that a) energy drink consumers have above-average rates of heavy drinking and drug use, and b) high caffeine doses might enhance the addictive properties of other substances via neurobiological mechanisms. Therefore, the proposed research focuses on elucidating the longer-term interrelationships between energy drinks, alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use patterns. The investigators will analyze eight annual waves of data from a large existing longitudinal dataset (n=1,253), assembled as part of the PI's NIDA-funded study of young-adult substance use behaviors. It would be the first study to leverage longitudinal data to describe the different long-term patterns of energy drink consumption among young adults (e.g., sustained heavy use, declining use, sporadic use). This study will also identify the characteristics that distinguish between individuals with different consumption patterns, and document which of those patterns might be associated with patterns of escalating or heavy substance use over time. This application uses advanced statistical methodology (e.g., growth mixture modeling), which the research team has already used to understand longitudinal substance use patterns. This research will complement ongoing NIH-funded research focusing on the relationship between energy drink consumption and alcohol-related problems by broadening the focus to include other drugs, particularly stimulant drugs (nicotine, cocaine, prescription stimulants), which are especially likely to be influenced by caffeine's neurobiologica effects. We anticipate that findings will lay the foundation for future research with younger adolescent samples, where the risk for incident drug is high and, according to national data, energy drinks are still growing in popularity. Moreover, this research has a translational focus that can lead to policy recommendations addressing health and safety issues around energy drinks. Knowledge gained in this study will inform innovative prevention strategies for young adult substance use problems-and in that regard, be useful for students, parents, health professionals, and policy makers.