by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
Alcoholism should have treatments similar to other chronic diseases, said Bill Miller, a UNM professor.
"There are no 21-day treatments for diabetes or heart disease or asthma," he said. "So if this is a chronic disease, we should treat it like one."
Miller was one of the creators of a study called Combining Medications and Behavioral Interventions for Alcoholism, or the COMBINE Study.
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The study examined the effectiveness of combining counseling and the medications Naltrexone and Acamprosate to treat alcoholism.
Miller spoke at a news conference Tuesday at UNM's Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse and Addictions to announce the results of the study.
CASAA was one of 11 sites nationwide that participated in the study.
The results showed that the drug Naltrexone in conjunction with occasional, brief meetings with health care professionals, significantly helped alcoholics refrain from drinking.
That means alcoholics can get treatment at their usual hospital, rather than having to go to an addiction specialist, Miller said.
"This has already happened with depression and smoking, and the primary reason is that effective medication became available," he said.
Naltrexone works by blocking opioid receptors in the brain, which eliminates some of the reward and pleasure that alcoholics get out of drinking, said Michael Bogenschutz, who helped with the study.
The study included 1,383 patients, about 130 of which were in Albuquerque.
Patients were split into groups, and then given different combinations of the drugs and treatments. The patients were given four months of treatment and monitored for an additional year after treatment ended.
Drinking decreased by 80 percent during the four-month treatment and 70 percent at the end of the study.
The two most effective treatments were Naltrexone and specialist counseling. Combining the two methods, however, increased success rates. Acamprosate had no benefits, according to the study.
Patients did not drink about 80 percent of the days they were on Naltrexone or in counseling, compared with about 75 percent for patients who took placebos.
Naltrexone and Acamprosate are FDA-approved for the treatment of alcohol dependence.
The study, which began in 2001, was sponsored by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
Miller said the finding could have important implications for New Mexico. Since the state is mostly rural, many people do not have access to addiction specialists. However, they probably have access to a general hospital, which could provide the treatments, he said.
"I would really like to see it have that kind of impact," he said.
He said he wants hospitals to start asking patients about their alcohol habits and offer to help them if they have problems.
"It was mostly just ignored because there was nothing really that could be done about it," he said. "Now that seems to have changed."
The results of the study are published in today's Journal of the American Medical Association.
Miller said the pills are fairly expensive, but that shouldn't stop people from looking into it.
"It's about a buck a pill, so $4 a day," he said. "Of course, as someone pointed out, that's less than a six-pack."
