The objective of this methodological study is to develop and systematically test predictive models of anindividual's alcohol consumption. The ability to forecast alcohol consumption in patients can potentially helpindividualized treatment programs. For binge drinkers, predicting the timing of their next episode providesadditional awareness that could help to control, or even to prevent, the entire episode. For heavy drinkers,predictive models can forecast the windows of treatment opportunity when the patient is most sober andresponsive to intervention. For those who are attempting to quit drinking, forecasting the next relapse episodecould be used to trigger motivational interviewing or other timely interventions that will help to prevent therelapse. In this project, we will analyze two datasets containing long time series' (i.e., 2 years and 6 months) ofindividual daily records of alcohol use, stress, and other factors. We will adapt innovative predictive modelsdeveloped to forecast future alcohol consumption, as well as identify and explain a variety of daily usepatterns. The data on individual alcohol consumption is very limited, and this is the first study aimed at buildingforecasting models using such data. This study offers the field a 'next step,' with an innovative analysisapproach that can possibly offer clinical implications for relapse prevention, increased treatment efficiency, andenhanced understanding of the factors driving the variety of daily patterns of use.
The data on daily individual alcohol consumption are critical for understanding alcohol abuse/addiction. This study is the first one to build forecasting models using such data. This study offers the field a next step, with an innovative analysis approach that can possibly offer clinical implications for relapse prevention, increased treatment efficiency, and enhanced understanding of the factors driving the variety of daily patterns of use.
| Aldridge, Arnie P; Zarkin, Gary A; Dowd, William N et al. (2016) The Relationship Between End-of-Treatment Alcohol Use and Subsequent Healthcare Costs: Do Heavy Drinking Days Predict Higher Healthcare Costs? Alcohol Clin Exp Res 40:1122-8 |
| Kampov-Polevoy, Alexey; Lange, Leslie; Bobashev, Georgiy et al. (2014) Sweet-liking is associated with transformation of heavy drinking into alcohol-related problems in young adults with high novelty seeking. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 38:2119-26 |
| Garge, Nikhil R; Bobashev, Georgiy; Eggleston, Barry (2013) Random forest methodology for model-based recursive partitioning: the mobForest package for R. BMC Bioinformatics 14:125 |
