Pharmacological Treatments for Alcohol Use Disorders: A Comprehensive Meta-Analysis

Finney JW, Wilbourne PL, Moyer A, Cherkasova E, Masaquel A, Miller A, Swearingen CE. Pharmacological Treatments for Alcohol Use Disorders: A Comprehensive Meta-Analysis. Paper presented at: Research Society on Alcoholism Annual Scientific Meeting; 2005 Jun 1; Santa Barbara, CA.

We conducted a preliminary meta-analysis of findings from 77 randomized clinical trials of pharmacological treatments for alcohol use disorders that included medication-placebo comparisons and were published in English from 1970 to 2004. We calculated and compared effect sizes on drinking-related outcomes for specific follow-up intervals for the following medications that had five or more identified trials: Acamprosate, Buspirone, Disulfiram, Fluoxetine, Lithium, Naltrexone and Ritanserin. For follow-ups of three months or less, aggregated effect sizes were modest, but positive and significantly different from zero for Acamprosate and Naltrexone; effect sizes for the other five medications did not differ significantly from zero. In part, these results reflect a substantially larger number of trials of Acamprosate and Naltrexone. Acamprosate also had significant effects sizes at all later follow-up points. The fact that the preponderance of studies has been conducted with medication/follow-up periods of three months or less highlights the need for research to determine the longer-term effects of shorter- and longer-term medication regimens, and to learn more about the effects of medications when integrated with longer-term psychosocial/behavioral treatments.