Could E-Interventions Benefit Alcoholic Patients?

The use of e-interventions may be beneficial in patients with alcohol use disorders, according to a recent study.

In order to examine the efficacy of e-interventions in managing alcohol misuse and alcohol use disorders, researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 28 trials comparing the online and phone-based interventions to with controls.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

RELATED CONTENT
Moderate Alcohol Consumption Alters Cardiac Structure
Alcohol Use Disorder Affects 1 in 3 Americans
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Overall, researchers found that e-interventions were associated with small reductions in alcohol consumption at 6 months (approximately 1 drink per week) but not associated with reductions at 12 months, binge-drinking frequency, or social consequences of drinking.

“Evidence suggests that low-intensity e-inter ventions produce small reductions in alcohol consumption at 6 months, but there is little evidence for longer-term, clinically significant effects, such as meeting drinking limits,” they concluded.

“Future e-interventions could provide more intensive treatment and possibly human support to assist persons in meeting recommended drinking limits.

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Dedert EA, McDuffie JR, Stein R, et al. Electronic interventions for alcohol misuse and alcohol use disorders: a systematic review. Ann Intern Med. 2015;163(3):205-214.