alcohol dependence

alcoholism

A condition characterised by a pathologic pattern of alcohol use causing a serious impairment in social or occupational functioning; also defined by the Joint Committee of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence & the American Society of Addiction Medicine as a “primary, chronic disease with genetic, psychosocial, and environmental factors influencing its development and manifestations. The disease is often progressive and fatal. It is characterised by … distortions in thinking, most notably denial.” A simpler, operational definition is persistent drinking that interferes with the person’s health, legal position, interpersonal relationships, or means of livelihood. Alcoholism is characterised by the regular intake of ≥75 g/day of alcohol.
Chronic effects Co-morbidity due to portal hypertension, hepatic failure, hyperoestrogenemia, infections (especially pneumonia) which may be due to alcohol-induced suppression of various immune defences, psychosocial disruption, transient hyperparathyroidism with decreased Ca2+, decreased Mg2+, osteoporosis.
Epidemiology (UK) 9% are heavy drinkers, 2% problem drinkers, 1% alcoholics.
Statistics (US) Alcohol causes half a million hospital admissions/year, 17,000 psychiatric admissions, 80% of all fire-related deaths, 65% of serious head injuries, 50% of homicides, 40% of RTAs/MVAs, 33% of divorces, 33% child abuse cases, 30% of fatal accidents, 30% of domestic accidents, 8 million working days lost, £1.6 billion annual cost to society.
Criteria for alcohol dependence
• Drinking >10 units/day
• Tolerance to effects of high blood alcohol concentration
• Withdrawal symptoms on stopping or reducing consumption
• Compulsion to continue drinking despite the problems it causes
• Abnormal lab tests.

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References in periodicals archive

In summary, although previous studies have involved some limitations, convergent evidence from both animal models and human studies suggests that orexins can be used as objective indicators and potential treatment targets for alcohol dependence. These methods could enable dynamic monitoring of the status of alcohol relapse drinking after patients are discharged from hospital, helping doctors assess abstinence status among patients with alcohol dependence.

Orexin might Predict Status of Alcohol Dependence

The intangible cost of alcohol dependence was estimated based on the mean and median values provided by participants after the follow-up question for both success scenarios.

Intangible costs of alcohol dependence from the perspective of patients and their relatives: A contingent valuation study/Costes intangibles de la dependencia alcoholica desde la perspectiva de los pacientes y sus familiares: un estudio de valoracion contingente

MMSE Scores in Patients of Alcohol Dependence and Normal Control Group

Assessment of cognitive function in patients with alcohol dependence: A cross-sectional study

Metabolite levels in the brain reward pathway discriminate those who remain abstinent from those who resume hazardous alcohol consumption after treatment for alcohol dependence. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs 71 (2): 278-289, 2010.

Alcohol's effects on the brain: Neuroimaging results in humans and animal models

The family history of alcohol dependence was significantly different between both groups of patients at p value <0.001.

Comparative study on early onset and late onset alcohol dependence patients

The results of the analyses presented below can also be found on table 1, which show that 196 of the 288 (i.e., 68%) students who participated in our study reported experiencing one of these three alcohol problems, alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence, or problematic drinking.

Alcohol consumption and abuse among college students: alarming rates among the best and the brightest

Alcohol-use disorders: diagnosis, assessment and management of harmful drinking and alcohol dependence. February 2011 edition.

Pharmacological interventions for alcohol relapse prevention

As shown in Table 1, six of these genes (ZNF256, CPLX2, LOC646820, SLC38A1, PGBD3, and AP3S2) were associated with alcohol dependence at the p < 0.01 level in both EAs and AAs.

Gene-based and pathway-based genome-wide association study of alcohol dependence

Thus, it appears that there are two forms of alcohol dependence: time-limited, and recurrent, or chronic.

The evolving role of EAP in addiction treatment

Ask the following 2 questions, which are among DSM-IV-TR criteria for alcohol dependence:

Patient abusing alcohol or drugs? Help starts with a single question: Although binge drinking and drug use are rarely discussed during office visits, they're common, costly, and potentially fatal. Help patients stop with these easy-to-use screening tools and effective intervention strategies

a leading developer of RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics, has announced that it is adding a new RNAi therapeutic targeting ALDH2 for the treatment of alcohol dependence (AD) to its product pipeline.

Tekmira Adding RNAi For Treatment of Alcohol Dependence

There is a strong association between alcohol dependence and persons delaying or ending a marriage, maintains a study at Indiana University, Bloomington.

Rocket fuel for marriage it is not