Alcohol Use Carlat Reports | Carlat Publishing

Research Update

Exposure Therapy Efficacious for PTSD Co-Occurring With Alcohol Use Disorder

From The Carlat Addiction Treatment Report, Medical Issues in Addiction Practice

Review of: Norman SB et al, Efficacy 2019;76(8):791–799 Patients with co-occurring posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) have worse outcomes compared to patients with either diagnosis alone. Integrated approaches, in which both diagnoses are simultaneously addressed, are viewed as best practice. Providers, however, are

Research Update

The COMBINE Study: A Core Paper in the Treatment of AUD

From The Carlat Addiction Treatment Report, Medical Issues in Addiction Practice

Review of: Anton RF et al, JAMA 2006;295(17):2003–2017 Conducted from 2001 to 2004 and published in 2006, the COMBINE study was the largest pharmacotherapy study that assessed the treatment of alcohol use disorder (AUD). Although there were significant data on the use of naltrexone and acamprosate (both had been FDA approved), widespread use had no

Research Update 2

Does Low to Moderate Alcohol Drinking Help or Hurt Cognition?

From The Carlat Addiction Treatment Report, Alternative Treatment in Addiction

Review of: Zhang R et al, JAMA Netw Open 2020;3(6):e207922 Is alcohol good or bad for cognition? The evidence is mixed. A new study brings additional clarity to this question by including a diverse patient population and by using longitudinal cognitive measurements of the subjects as opposed to cross-sectional evaluations at one time point. In an

Research Update

Does Baclofen Titrated to High Doses Reduce Alcohol Use?

From The Carlat Addiction Treatment Report, Emerging Risks for Old Medications

Review of: Rigal L et al, Addiction 2019 Dec 13 [Epub ahead of print] Baclofen is a muscle relaxant and anti-spasmodic that has been used off-label for treating alcohol use disorder for many years. The research base is mixed, with studies showing inconsistent efficacy and tolerability at different doses. In this latest randomized, placebo-controlled

Research Update

Gabapentin for Alcohol Use Disorder, Redux

From The Carlat Addiction Treatment Report, Emerging Risks for Old Medications

Review of: Anton RF et al, JAMA Intern Med 2020;180(5):1–9 Gabapentin has had mixed results in the treatment of alcohol use disorder (AUD), but it is clearly effective in the treatment of alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS). In this study, researchers tested whether gabapentin might be effective specifically in treating adults with AUD who also had a

Clinical Update

Disulfiram: An Underused Strategy for Alcohol Use Disorders

From The Carlat Psychiatry Report, Depression

Alcohol ranks third among preventable causes of death in the US, but it is by far the most undertreated. Fewer than 8% of people with alcohol use disorders (AUDs) receive treatment for their disease, and only a minority of them receive FDA-approved medications. Those medications are acamprosate (Campral), naltrexone (Vivitrol, ReVia), and disulfiram (An

Research Update

Moderate Alcohol Use Associated With Reduced Risk of Dementia

From The Carlat Psychiatry Report, Sleep

Topics: Alcohol Use | Dementia | Geriatric Psychiatry | Research Update

Review of: Sabia S et al, BMJ 2018;362:k2927 Type of study: Prospective cohort study Excessive alcohol use is neurotoxic, but some studies have found that moderate alcohol intake might actually reduce the risk of dementia. Most of these studies, however, have focused on geriatric patients. What about the cumulative impact of alcohol over one’s lifet