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Over 20% of patients report excessive alcohol use pre-transplant

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 58, pages 581–583 (2023)Cite this article

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Alcohol use is highly prevalent in the United States with 69.5% reporting use in the past year and 25.8% endorsing binge drinking in the past month [1]. The American Cancer Society (ACS) developed guidelines for alcohol use [2], yet few studies have examined alcohol use in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) populations [3,4,5]. Graf et al. found that history of alcohol use disorder (11% of sample), HSCT-specific comorbidity index, and older age significantly predicted nonrelapse mortality in patients who underwent autologous HSCT [5]. As HSCT requires treatment compliance prior to and after transplant, identification of excessive alcohol use that may interfere with treatment optimization is essential.

Individuals who were undergoing pre-HSCT evaluation at a large academic medical center were invited to participate in a prospective cohort study examining lifestyle factors prior to and 1-year following HSCT. Participants who endorsed excessive alcohol use within the last year, were included in analyses. Consumption of more than two standard alcoholic beverages per typical day and/or presence of binge drinking behavior (≥ 6 drinks in a sitting) in the past year was classified as excessive alcohol use [2]. Alcohol use and consequences of drinking were quantified via the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test [6]; demographic and disease characteristics were obtained via self-report and the institution’s transplant center. The protocol was approved by the presiding Institutional Review Board.

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Data availability

Study data are not publicly available but are available upon reasonable request.

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Funding

The research study was funded by NIH grant KL2 RR 02415 (PI: SLE).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

    Janae L. Kirsch & Shawna L. Ehlers

  2. Department of Hematology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

    William Hogan & Mrinal Patnaik

Authors
  1. Janae L. Kirsch
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  2. William Hogan
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  3. Mrinal Patnaik
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  4. Shawna L. Ehlers
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Contributions

JLK was responsible for designing the current study, data abstraction, conducting analyses, interpreting results, and manuscript writing. WH and MP provided feedback on study design and results and contributed to manuscript writing. SLE was responsible for obtaining funding, protocol and study design, interpreting results, and manuscript writing.

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Correspondence to Shawna L. Ehlers.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Kirsch, J.L., Hogan, W., Patnaik, M. et al. Over 20% of patients report excessive alcohol use pre-transplant. Bone Marrow Transplant 58, 581–583 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-023-01921-9

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