# National Alcohol Surveys: Advancing Epidemiologic Analyses of 21st Century Drinking

> **NIH NIH P50** · PUBLIC HEALTH INSTITUTE · 2021 · $274,460

## Abstract

ABSTRACT: National Alcohol Surveys: Advancing Epidemiologic Analyses of 21st Century Drinking
Hazardous alcohol use remains one of the most common preventable causes of morbidity and mortality in the
US and it manifests major racial/ethnic and other disparities. Nationally representative surveys repeated over
time provide a means to advance survey methods, monitor trends in alcohol use overall and in sub-groups, and
investigate timely health topics related to alcohol use. The Alcohol Research Group and its Center have
conducted a series of National Alcohol Surveys (NAS) for forty years, and are proposing in this Project to conduct
the 15th edition of the NAS in 2023-2024 (termed N15). Through the implementation of the N15 we will respond
to challenges to modern-day survey research by employing a multi-mode, adaptive survey design. This will
include a fully web-based survey using address-based sampling, and probability and non-probability web panels.
Further, this will be the first NAS to include biosample collection using dried blood spots (DBS). Including an
additional NAS in the series will expand the trend data available for framing recent changes in alcohol
consumption patterns, which is also essential for age-period-cohort models for understanding components of
these trends. With NAS series data from 2000-2020 we propose to evaluate racial/ethnic and socioeconomic
disparities in alcohol use and alcohol problems, and risk relationships between alcohol use patterns and
problems using causal inference methods including instrumental variables based on alcohol tax estimates and
other policy measures. Such methods have yet to be applied to the study of disparities in alcohol-related
problems. Capitalizing on the expanded trends data, we propose to examine trends for total and beverage-
specific alcohol volume, alcohol use disorder, and co-use of alcohol with marijuana and other drugs from 1979
or 1984, dependent on the availability of measures, to 2024 with age-period-cohort decompositions. Alcohol and
drug co-use, particularly cannabis, is especially timely given the legalization of recreational marijuana use in
many states and the ongoing opioid crisis. Psychological distress (PD) is a likely driver of the opioid crisis and
“deaths of despair”. Recent NAS editions have included measures of PD, a common problem for which alcohol
use is a known risk factor. However, less well understood are the individual- and environmental-level moderators
and biological mediators of this relationship. Collecting DBS samples will enable the study of inflammation as a
biological mediator of the relationship between alcohol use and PD, which could inform future research and
prevention interventions. Further, a better understanding of the moderators of the relationship between alcohol
use and PD, from individual- to community-level characteristics, could help to prioritize groups to receive
prevention interventions. In summary, this project proposes data collection ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10056010
- **Project number:** 2P50AA005595-41
- **Recipient organization:** PUBLIC HEALTH INSTITUTE
- **Principal Investigator:** Priscilla Martinez
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $274,460
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 1981-07-01 → 2026-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10056010

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10056010, National Alcohol Surveys: Advancing Epidemiologic Analyses of 21st Century Drinking (2P50AA005595-41). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10056010. Licensed CC0.

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