0282 Associations Between EEG Sleep Characteristics and Alcohol Use Behaviors in Young Adults

Abstract Introduction Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is characterized by sleep disturbances, but differentiating the effects of acute alcohol exposure, withdrawal, and chronic consumption remains an unsolved problem. This study takes a unique approach to examine proximate alcohol consumption effects on sleep electroencephalography (EEG) in young adults who engage in heavy episodic drinking. We aim to relate sleep physiology to progression from binge drinking towards AUD. Methods Young adults aged 21-30 years (N=88) who report weekly binge drinking (4+/5+ drinks per occasion for female/male assigned at birth) completed two nine-day ecological momentary assessment (EMA) protocols, each followed by overnight in-lab polysomnography (PSG) after negative alcohol breath test. Drinking events were recorded by EMA. EEG sleep analyses (AASM criteria) assessed sleep-wake staging and power spectral analysis. Linear mixed effect modeling examined the effects of drink number during the EMA period on measures of sleep continuity, architecture, and spectral power, adjusting for sociodemographic and behavioral covariates. Results Participants reported an average of 17.5+/-1.0 drinks over 3.0+/-0.1 days in each 9-day EMA period. Unexpectedly, higher drink counts were associated with lower time spent awake after sleep onset (WASO, log-transformed, BETA-STD=-0.17, p=0.028) without significant changes in sleep efficiency (p=0.06) or sleep onset latency (SOL, p=0.656). More drinks also correlated with higher number of REM periods (log-transformed, BETA-STD=0.17, p=0.022) and less REM fragmentation (log-transformed, BETA-STD=-0.21, p=0.005) without correlating with REM latency (p=0.058). Finally, consumption of more drinks was associated with decreased alpha power (8-12 Hz, log-transformed, BETA-STD=-0.1, p=0.03) but not associated with other aspects of sleep architecture or spectral power (p0.05). Conclusion Contrary to our expectation of worse sleep in those with higher drinking frequency, we found that greater drink consumption was actually associated with better sleep based on parameters assessing continuity (WASO), REM sleep (number of periods, fragmentation), and spectral power (alpha power). Possible explanations include effects from binge drinking pattern, sleep improvement after alcohol detoxification, age-related resilience, or differential effects across the night. Future analyses will investigate sex differences, day-to-day drinking and sleeping relationships during EMA study period, subjective sleep quality, sleep changes across the night, and other putative covariates. Support (if any) NAH T32HL082610, BPH/SLP R01AA026249