Health and household environment factors linked with early alcohol use in adolescence: a record-linked, data-driven, longitudinal cohort study

Abstract

Introduction Early alcohol use has significant association with poor health outcomes. Individual risk factors around early alcohol use have been identified, but a holistic, data-driven investigation into health and household environmental factors on early alcohol use is yet to be undertaken. Objectives This study aims to investigate the relationship between preceding health events, household exposures and early alcohol use during adolescence using a two-stage data-driven approach. Methods In stage one, a study population (N = 1,072) were derived from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) Wales (born between 2000-2002). MCS data were first linked with electronic-health records. Factors associated with early (