Citation

Courtney JB, Russell MA, Conroy DE. Alcohol 2022; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.alcohol.2022.11.004

PMID

36473634

Abstract

Wrist-worn transdermal alcohol concentration (TAC) sensors have the potential to provide detailed information about day-level features of alcohol use but have rarely been used in field-based research or in early adulthood (i.e., 26-40 years) alcohol users. This pilot study assessed the acceptability, user burden, and validity of using the BACtrack Skyn across 28-days in individuals' natural settings. Adults aged 26-37 (N=11, M(age)=31.2, 55% female, 73% non-Hispanic white) participated in a study including retrospective surveys, a 28-day field protocol wearing Skyn and SCRAM sensors and completing ecological momentary assessments (EMA) of alcohol use and duration (daily morning reports and participant-initiated start/stop drinking EMAs), and follow-up interviews. Day-level features of alcohol use extracted from self-reports and/or sensors included drinks consumed, estimated Blood Alcohol Concentration (eBAC), drinking duration, peak TAC, area under the curve (AUC), rise rate, and fall rate. Repeated-measures correlations (r(rm)) tested within-person associations between day-level features of alcohol use from the Skyn versus self-report or the SCRAM. Participants preferred wearing the Skyn over the SCRAM (t(10)=-6.79, p <.001, d=2.74). Skyn data were available for 5,614 (74.2%) out of 7,566 hours, with 20.7% of data lost due to syncing/charging issues and 5.1% lost due to device removal. Skyn agreement for detecting drinking days was 55.5% and 70.3% when compared to self-report and the SCRAM, respectively. Correlations for drinking intensity between self-report and the Skyn were 0.35 for peak TAC, 0.52 for AUC, and 0.30 for eBAC, which were smaller than correlations between self-report and SCRAM, at 0.78 for peak TAC, 0.79 for AUC and 0.61 for eBAC. Correlations for drinking duration were larger when comparing self-report to the Skyn (r(rm)=0.36) versus comparing self-report to the SCRAM (r(rm)=0.31). The Skyn showed moderate-to-large, significant correlations with the SCRAM for peak TAC (r(rm)=0.54), AUC (r(rm)=0.80), and drinking duration (r(rm)=0.63). Our findings support the acceptability and validity of using the Skyn for assessing alcohol use across an extended timeframe (i.e., 28-days) in individuals' natural settings, and for providing useful information about day-level features of alcohol use.

Language: en

Keywords

validity; acceptability; ecological momentary assessments; self-reported drinking; transdermal alcohol concentration (TAC) sensors; user burden