Effectiveness of Naltrexone in a Community Treatment Program

Abstract

These data suggest that naltrexone may offer particular benefit to patients who continue to drink during the early stages of the trial as compared with those who have achieved abstinence before treatment entry.

Predictors of Self-Reported Adherence to Naltrexone Medication in an Outpatient Treatment for Problem Drinking

“…The mean naltrexone adherence rate of 78% observed for the first four months of this treatment is generally very good considering the fact that this study was conducted in a real-world treatment setting. The adherence rate was better than in the study by Killeen et al [28] who reported an adherence rate of 51%. in a 12-week community treatment programme in which the patients were randomised to receive either 50 mg of naltrexone daily or placebo.…”

“…In a study by Killeen et al [28] that monitored the use of naltrexone (daily dose) in a community-based programme, the reported naltrexone adherence during the 12-week treatment was 51%. In order to broaden this field of research, the aim of this study was to examine patients' treatment adherence (percentage of drinking occurrences in which the patient used naltrexone) in an outpatient treatment environment for problem drinking that involved targeted use of naltrexone and cognitive behavioural therapy.…”

New Insights into the Efficacy of Naltrexone Based on Trajectory-Based Reanalyses of Two Negative Clinical Trials

“…A number of small to medium size studies (Volpicelli et Kiefer et al 2003Kiefer et al ,2004 and two large clinical trials (Garbutt 2005,Anton 2006) reported that naltrexone was effective in delaying relapse to heavy drinking, reducing the intensity of drinking or increasing percent days abstinence. Several systematic reviews indicated that naltrexone efficacy was associated with a small to moderate effect size (Garbutt et Killeen et al 2004) found no significant benefit associated with naltrexone treatment. Some meta-analyses also found no effect of naltrexone on abstinence (Garbutt et al 1999,Bouza et al 2004.…”

Safety and Tolerability of Pharmacological Treatment of Alcohol Dependence: Comprehensive Review of Evidence

“…In a separate study [80], 88 patients were randomised to one of 4 groups: paroxetine (40mg/d) or desipramine (200mg/d), with naltrexone (50mg/d) or placebo, but there was no significant difference in side effect reporting between groups. Several studies have included patients with co-morbid alcohol dependence psychiatric disorders [81][82][83]. None of these show significantly different side effect profiles from non-comorbid groups.…”