Is acamprosate use in alcohol dependence treatment reflected in improved subjective health status outcomes beyond cognitive behavioural therapy alone?

OBJECTIVE

To examine whether the addition of acamprosate to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) outpatient alcohol dependence treatment impacted on subjective health status.

METHOD: Among 268 patients consecutively treated for alcohol dependence, 149 chose CBT alone. A matched design was used. From a possible pool of 119 Acamprosate + CBT and 149 CBT-only patients, 86 Acamprosate + CBT subjects were individually matched with 86 CBT-only patients on parameters of gender, age, prior detoxification and alcohol dependence severity. Health Status (SF-36) and Psychological Well-Being (GHQ-28) was assessed pre- and post-treatment.

RESULTS

Pre-treatment, both self-reported health status and psychological well-being was markedly below normative (community) ranges. Program completers significantly improved across both measures over 12 weeks of treatment and some health domains approximated community levels. No treatment group differences were observed.

CONCLUSIONS

Participants who completed the CBT-based treatment showed significant improvement in self-reported health status. The use of acamprosate did not register additional improvement on either SF-36 or GHQ-28, beyond CBT alone.