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A study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, examined
the effects of the drug naltrexone on 600 veterans. The researchers
found the drug worked no better than sugar pills for long-term
heavy drinkers. The veterans averaged 49 years old and had started
drinking in their 20’s and reported drinking 3 days out of 4,
averaging 13 drinks each occasion. For 3 months some of the veterans
were given naltrexone, whilst others were given it for a year.
Others took sugar pills with no medical effects. In all 3 groups
the patients went on average four and a half months without drinking.
At 13 weeks and 1 year after the study began, the patients were
drinking less and on far fewer days than at the start of the study,
with the reduction being about the same for all of the groups.
Dr. John H. Krystal of the Veterans Affairs Connecticut Health
Care System and the researchers said, "Our data raises doubts
about the current use of naltrexone for patients with chronic
severe alcohol dependence". However, Dr Krystal went on to say
that naltrexone might still prove effective for patients who drank
less heavily or when combined with other drugs.
In an editorial accompanying the report, Dr R.K. Fuller and Dr.
E Gordis of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
noted that other studies had found naltrexone to be moderately
effective and that the results of the new study may therefore
only apply to severe alcoholics. |
