American Indian and Alaska Native Programs, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Nighthorse Campbell Native Health Building, Aurora, Colorado.
Background: The objective was to examine the association of self-reported Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV edition alcohol abuse and dependence with medical conditions among American Indians (AIs). Methods: We analyzed data previously collected in a large epidemiological study of members of 2 culturally distinct AI tribes from the Southwest (SW; n=1,446) and the Northern Plains (NP; n=1,638) living on or near their reservations. Associations of combined self-reported alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence with 19 medical conditions were examined through multinomial logistic regression. Results: Medical conditions that had significant relationships with alcohol abuse/dependence were sprains and strains [odds ratio (OR) 2.04, p