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The medication naltrexone and up to 20 sessions of alcohol counseling by a behavioral specialist are equally effective treatments for alcohol dependence when delivered with structured medical management, according to results from "Combining Medications and Behavioral Interventions for Alcoholism" (The COMBINE Study). Results from the National Institutes of Health-supported study show that patients who received naltrexone, specialized alcohol counseling, or both demonstrated the best drinking outcomes after 16 weeks of outpatient treatment. All patients also received Medical Management (MM), an intervention consisting of nine brief, structured outpatient sessions provided by a health care professional. Contrary to expectations, the researchers found no effect on drinking of the medication acamprosate and no additive benefit from adding acamprosate to naltrexone. Effect of Combined Pharmacotherapies and Behavioral Interventions for Alcohol Dependence appears in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
NIH's National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) launched COMBINE in 2001 to identify the most effective current treatments and treatment combinations for alcohol dependence. The largest clinical trial ever conducted of pharmacologic and behavioral treatments for alcohol dependence, COMBINE was carried out at 11 academic sites that recruited and randomly assigned 1383 recently abstinent, alcohol-dependent patients to one of nine treatment groups (COMBINE Study Design). "These results demonstrate that either naltrexone or specialized alcohol counseling — with structured medical management — is an effective option for treating alcohol dependence," said Mark L. Willenbring, M.D., Director, Division of Treatment and Recovery Research, NIAAA. "Although MM is somewhat more intensive than the alcohol dependence interventions offered in most of today's health care settings, it is not unlike other patient care models such as initiating insulin therapy in patients with diabetes mellitus. MM's application in primary care and general mental health care settings would expand access to effective treatment dramatically, while offering patients greater choice." To expand its application, NIAAA will develop an abbreviated version of MM to be available in early summer. Print copies of the treatment manuals used in COMBINE are available by order from http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/Publications/EducationTrainingMaterials.
Message posted by: Rashmi Nemade
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