You are here

Article Text

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
Therapeutics
Review: studies with sufficient follow-up do not show a clear benefit for pharmacotherapy in alcohol dependence

https://doi.org/10.1136/ebm.5.1.23

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    (1999) JAMA 281, 1318. Garbutt JC, West SL, Carey TS, et al.. Pharmacological treatment of alcohol dependence. A review of the evidence.. Apr14;. :. –25..
    OpenUrlCrossRefPubMedWeb of Science

    
 
 QUESTION: What is the efficacy of 5 classes of drugs (disulfiram, opioid antagonists [naltrexone and nalmefene], acamprosate, serotonergic agents, and lithium) for treating alcohol dependence?

    Data sources

    Studies were identified by searching Medline, HealthSTAR, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Alcohol and Alcohol Problems Database, PsycINFO, and the Cochrane Library with terms for drugs of interest and related classes of drugs, alcoholism, alcohol drinking, and study design characteristics. Published abstracts and US Food and Drug Administration documents were also reviewed.

    Study selection

    Studies published in English, French, or German from 1966 to December 1997 were selected if they included ≥10 adults who were dependent on alcohol and treated in any setting. Children, infants, and pregnant women were excluded.

    Data extraction

    Reviewers assessed the quality of studies by …

    View Full Text

    Footnotes

    • Source of funding: Agency for Health Care Policy and Research.

    • For correspondence: Dr S L West, Research Triangle Institute, 3040 Cornwallis Road, PO Box 12194, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2194, USA. FAX 919-541-7384.