Associations Between Transdermal Alcohol Concentration Features Derived From a Wrist-Worn Sensor and Subjective Response to Alcohol Assessed via Ecological Momentary Assessment.

BACKGROUND

There is a growing interest in the use of reliable, accurate, and user-friendly wearable biosensors to measure alcohol consumption in naturalistic environments. Growing evidence has shown that the BACtrack Skyn, a wrist-worn alcohol biosensor, can reliably measure alcohol consumption in these settings. However, little is known regarding the utility of Skyn features in predicting real-time subjective response to alcohol. This study examined associations between Skyn transdermal alcohol concentration (TAC) features and both self-reported alcohol consumption and subjective response assessed via ecological momentary assessment (EMA).

METHODS

Moderate drinkers (n = 50, ages 21-25) completed EMA assessments and wore the Skyn biosensor for 11 consecutive days. Participants completed post-drink questionnaires after each drink and completed multiple EMA surveys on non-drinking nights as well. Measures included the brief biphasic alcohol effects scale (B-BAES) to assess stimulation and sedation and visual analog scales (VAS) to assess mood, craving, and intoxication. Total drinks were reported in a morning questionnaire. Skyn data were processed using the Skyn Data Manager (SDM).

RESULTS

Correlational analyses showed that all TAC measures were positively associated with self-reported drinks (ps < 0.001). Linear mixed effects models showed that peak TAC and TAC-AUC predicted stimulation, positive mood, craving, and intoxication (ps < 0.05), and TAC rate of rise predicted stimulation, craving, and intoxication (ps < 0.001). Peak TAC interacted with weekend days to predict intoxication, such that peak TAC was a stronger predictor of intoxication on weekends compared to weekdays.

CONCLUSIONS

These results support the reliability, validity, and utility of the Skyn device in naturalistic studies as well as the use of the SDM as an efficient and reliable method for processing Skyn data. The findings encourage the use of the Skyn in future studies to examine individual differences in associations between objective measures of alcohol consumption and subjective response in naturalistic environments.