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Alcohol and Nicotine Use Disorders in Israel |
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Alcohol consumption in Israel has been shown to be very low in numerous studies conducted since the 1970's. However, evidence now suggests that Israel may now be undergoing a period of change in terms of alcohol consumption, with younger adults and recent Russian immigrants drinking more. Elevated prevalence of ADH1B*2, an allele of a gene involved in the metabolism of alcohol in the liver, is elevated among Jewish groups in general, including Jewish Israelis. (Under an earlier nomenclature, the ADH1B*2 allele was known as ADH2*2.) Thus, Israel presents a unique conjunction of environmental and genetic influences on alcohol consumption and dependence symptoms.
Findings from this research include:
Immigrants from the former Soviet Union who arrived in Israel since 1989 are more likely to report recent drinking and getting drunk than other Israelis.
ADH1B*2, an allele of a gene affecting the metabolism of alcohol in the liver, has an elevated prevalence in Israeli Jews compared to other groups with Northern-European background, and is protective against heavy drinking and alcohol dependence symptoms in Israeli Jews.
Younger Israelis are more likely than older Israelis to drink heavily and to experience DSM-IV alcohol dependence symptoms.
Latent variable analysis of DSM-IV alcohol abuse and dependence criteria show that these form a unidimensional continuous trait, similar to findings in many other countries.
Nicotine abuse, dependence and craving form a unidimensional continuous trait, and that addition of abuse criteria and craving to DSM-IV dependence criteria produces a more informative and discriminating criterion set.
Topics of current investigation in this area include the interaction of gene and environmental effects in the occurrence of heavy drinking and alcohol dependence symptoms. A population-based study of these issues was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) in 2003.
Selected Publications:
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Shmulewitz D, Keyes KM, Wall MM, Aharonovich E, Aivadyan C, Greenstein E, Spivak B, Weizman A, Frisch A, Grant BF, Hasin D:
Nicotine dependence, abuse, and craving: dimensionality in an Israeli sample. Addiction, in press.
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Shmulewitz D, Keyes K, Beseler C, Aharonovich E, Aivadyan C, Spivak B, Hasin D: The dimensionality of alcohol use disorders: results from Israel. Drug Alcohol Depend 111(1-2):146-54, 2010. PDF Listman JB, Hasin D, Kranzler HR, Malison RT, Mutirangura A, Sughondhabirom A, Aharonovich E, Spivak B, Gelernter J: Identification of population substructure among Jews using STR markers and dependence on reference populations included. BMC Genet 11:48, 2010. PDF Spivak B, Frisch A, Maman Z, Aharonovich E, Alderson D, Carr LG, Weizman A, Hasin D: Effect of ADH1B genotype on alcohol consumption in young Israeli Jews. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 31(8):1297-301, 2007. PDF Schiff M, Zweig HH, Benbenishty R, Hasin DS: Exposure to terrorism and Israeli youths' cigarette, alcohol, and cannabis use. Am J Public Health 97(10):1852-8, 2007. PDF Schiff M, Benbenishty R, McKay M, DeVoe E, Liu X, Hasin D: Exposure to terrorism and Israeli youth's psychological distress and alcohol use: an exploratory study. Am J Addictions 15(3):220-6, 2006. PDF Hasin D, Aharonovich E, Liu X, Maman Z, Matseoane K, Carr L, Li T: Alcohol and ADH2 in Israel: Ashkenazis, Sephardics and recent Russian Immigrants. American Journal of Psychiatry 159:1432-1434, 2002. PDF Hasin D, Aharonovich E, Liu X, Maman Z, Matseoane K, Carr L, Li T: Alcohol dependence symptoms and Alcohol Dehydrogenase 2 Polymorphism: Israeli Ashkenazis, Sephardics and recent Russian immigrants. Alcoholism: Clinical Experimental Research 26:1315-1321, 2002. PDF Neumark Y, Rahav G, Teichman M, Hasin D: Alcohol drinking patterns among Jewish and Arab men and women in Israel. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 62:443-447, 2001. PDF Aharonovich E, Hasin D, Rahav G, Meydan J, Neumark Y: Differences in drinking patterns among Ashkenazic and Sephardic Israeli adults. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 62:301-305, 2001. PDF Rahav G, Hasin D, Paykin A: Drinking patterns of recent Russian immigrants and other Israelis: 1995 national survey results. American Journal of Public Health 89:1212-1216, 1999. PDF Hasin D, Rahav G, Meydan J, Neumark Y: The drinking of earlier and more recent Russian immigrants to Israel: comparison to other Israelis. Journal of Substance Abuse 10:341-353, 1998. PDF |
Choose another research area: Adolescent substance use
Epidemiology and comorbidity of psychiatric and substance use disorders
Measurement issues in substance use and psychiatric disorders
Natural history of substance use disorders
State-level influences on drug, alcohol and psychiatric conditions
NYSPI/Columbia University |
1051 Riverside Drive, Box 123 |
New York, New York 10032 |
Tel. (212) 543-5035 |
E-mail: dsh2@columbia.edu |