Naltrexone for the treatment of alcohol dependence: a review of the clinical and cost-effectiveness
Mujoomdar M, Spry C
Record ID 32011001290
English
Authors' recommendations:
Overall, the majority of the included studies that assessed the clinical-effectiveness of naltrexone demonstrated that it was capable of improving clinical outcomes of alcohol dependence. More specifically, naltrexone was most effective at decreasing relapse to heavy drinking. All four of the systematic reviews and meta-analysis concluded that naltrexone was effective for preventing relapse to heavy drinking. The findings suggested that acamprosate was more effective than naltrexone at maintaining abstinence or preventing relapse to any drinking. Several of the reports suggested that acamprosate may be the treatment of choice if the goal of treatment is abstinence and naltrexone may be used if the treatment goal is controlled drinking. All three of these studies reported significant improvements in the disulfiram arm in alcohol-related outcomes; however, all of the studies involved a supervised medication dosing program with the intent of improving compliance. At least one of the studies that used a supervised medication dosing program reported non-significant differences in the alcohol-related outcomes once the supervised period had finished. The clinical study limitations and the limited Canadian cost-effectiveness information, coupled with the treatment goal of the patient and factors that may influence patient compliance should be considered when deciding whether to use naltrexone for the treatment of alcohol dependence.
Details
Project Status:
Completed
Year Published:
2009
English language abstract:
An English language summary is available
Publication Type:
Not Assigned
Country:
Canada
MeSH Terms
- Alcoholism
- Naltrexone
Contact
Organisation Name:
Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health
Contact Address:
600-865 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, ON K1S 5S8 Canada. Tel: +1 613 226 2553; Fax: +1 613 226 5392;
Contact Name:
requests@cadth.ca
Contact Email:
requests@cadth.ca
Copyright:
Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH)
This is a bibliographic record of a published health technology assessment from a member of INAHTA or other HTA producer. No evaluation of the quality of this assessment has been made for the HTA database.