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Review
. 2019 Dec;6(12):1054-1067.
doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(19)30213-5. Epub 2019 Oct 17.

Prevention, screening, and treatment for heavy drinking and alcohol use disorder

Justin Knox  1 , Deborah S Hasin  2 , Farren R R Larson  3 , Henry R Kranzler  4
Affiliations
Review

Prevention, screening, and treatment for heavy drinking and alcohol use disorder

Justin Knox et al. Lancet Psychiatry. 2019 Dec.

Abstract

Heavy drinking and alcohol use disorder are major public health problems. Practitioners not specialising in alcohol treatment are often unaware of the guidelines for preventing, identifying, and treating heavy drinking and alcohol use disorder. However, a consensus exists that clinically useful and valuable tools are available to address these issues. Here, we review existing information and developments from the past 5 years in these areas. We also include information on heavy drinking and alcohol use disorder among individuals with co-occurring psychiatric disorders, including drug use disorders. Areas covered include prevention; screening, brief intervention, and referral for treatment; evidence-based behavioural interventions; medication-assisted treatment; technology-based interventions (eHealth and mHealth); and population-level interventions. We also discuss the key topics for future research.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interests

DSH and HRK are members of the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology’s Alcohol Clinical Trials Initiative (ACTIVE), which in the past three years was sponsored by AbbVie, Alkermes, Amygdala Neurosciences, Arbor Pharmaceuticals, Ethypharm, Indivior, Lilly, Lundbeck, Otsuka, and Pfizer. HRK is named as an inventor on PCT patent application #15/878,640 entitled "Genotype-guided dosing of opioid agonists," filed January 24, 2018. DSH acknowledges support from Campbell Alliance for an unrelated project on the measurement of opioid addiction. JK and FRRL declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Screening for heavy drinking and AUD, adapted from the NIAAA Clinician’s Guide
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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