Alcohol use across the menstrual cycle among marihuana users

Abstract

Thirty women completed alcohol, marihuana, and tobacco use diaries and Form T of the Moos Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MDQ) every day for three consecutive menstrual cycles. A 99.0% response rate was obtained: 2750 of a possible 2778 diaries were returned. Women reported drinking an average of 1.2 (+/- 1.9) alcoholic drinks per day (range for individuals: 2.7 [+/- 1.7] to 0.2 [+/- 0.5]). Frequency of alcohol use was unrelated to menstrual cycle phase. Seven of the 8 MDQ factors were significantly (p less than 0.04 to p less than 0.001) but weakly related to alcohol use: distress and alcohol use were positively related. There was a significant relationship between tobacco and alcohol use in 11 subjects who smoked at least half a pack of tobacco cigarettes per day but not in 10 occasional smokers. Further, heavier drinkers were considerably more likely to smoke tobacco than were more moderate drinkers. These data indicate that in the absence of severe premenstrual distress, menstrual cycle phase is not a good predictor of alcohol use among female social drinkers.