Alcohol Dependence News and Research

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Heavy drinking in older adults linked to poorer neurocognitive functions

Heavy drinking can lead to neurophysiological and cognitive changes ranging from disrupted sleep to more serious neurotoxic effects.

23 Sep 2016

Study finds sleep habits during late childhood predict alcohol and cannabis use in adolescence

A study led by researchers from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Pitt Department of Psychology has identified a possible link between adolescent sleep habits and early substance abuse.

19 Sep 2016

Controlled drinking more difficult to achieve than total abstinence from alcohol, study shows

People who are seeking treatment for alcohol dependence and whose goal is to quit drinking entirely are more likely to achieve this goal if they are treated by a care provider who advocates total abstinence.

14 Sep 2016

TSRI researchers find way to switch off urge for compulsive drinking in rat models

There may be a way to switch off the urge for compulsive drinking, according to a new study in animal models led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute.

6 Sep 2016

Minimum legal drinking age can have major impact on crimes committed by young adults

A new study from the Northern Medical Program at the University of Northern British Columbia has shown that minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) legislation in Canada can have a major effect on crimes committed by young adults.

31 Aug 2016

Deficiency in important enzyme leads to alcohol dependency

A research group under the leadership of Linköping University Professor Markus Heilig has identified an enzyme whose production is turned off in nerve cells of the frontal lobe when alcohol dependence develops.

30 Aug 2016

Men experience greater pain relief than women after smoking marijuana, study finds

Researchers from Columbia University Medical Center found that men had greater pain relief than women after smoking marijuana.

19 Aug 2016

Financial difficulties increase risk of mental health conditions among university students

Experiencing financial difficulties and worrying about debt at university increases the risk of mental health conditions such as depression and alcohol dependency, according to new research from the University of Southampton and Solent NHS Trust.

9 Aug 2016

Researchers study link between health insurance, tobacco and alcohol use among reproductive age women

Researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health studied the relationship between health insurance coverage and tobacco and alcohol use among reproductive age women in the United States, and whether there were differences according to pregnancy status.

27 Jul 2016

Penn researchers use drug-pricing model to estimate average joint weight of marijuana

How much marijuana does the average joint contain? "It seems like an odd question but major policy questions depend on the answer," said Greg Ridgeway, an associate professor of criminology and statistics at the University of Pennsylvania.

12 Jul 2016

Traumatic images induce stronger alcohol craving than stress in military veterans

Post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol dependence (AD) are two of the most common and debilitating disorders diagnosed among American military veterans. AD and PTSD often occur together, and this co-occurrence has a worse prognosis than either disorder alone.

4 Jul 2016

Study uses ethnically diverse sample to identify predictors of early substance use

Girls who were overweight as children are likely to begin using cigarettes, marijuana or alcohol at an earlier age than their healthy-weight peers, according to a new study by researchers in the Indiana University School of Education.

29 Jun 2016

Childhood adversities linked to drug or alcohol dependency in adults

Adults who have drug or alcohol dependency have experienced very high rates of early adversities, according to a new study published by University of Toronto researchers.

23 Jun 2016

Study finds high prevalence of suicide attempts among arthritis patients

One in every 26 men with arthritis have attempted suicide compared to one in 50 men without arthritis. Women with arthritis also had a higher prevalence of lifetime suicide attempts than women without arthritis (5.3% vs 3.2%), according to a recent study from the University of Toronto.

16 Jun 2016

Study identifies circadian pattern of peak incidence of suicides in alcohol dependent individuals

A new study found that there is a circadian pattern of peak and nadir in the incidence of suicides committed in alcohol dependent individuals.

15 Jun 2016

Magic mushroom compound may offer potential new way for antidepressant research

Psilocybin – a hallucinogenic compound derived from magic mushrooms – may offer a possible new avenue for antidepressant research, according to a new study published in The Lancet Psychiatry today.

17 May 2016

Changes in the brain make people prone to alcoholism

The brain tissue of persons with alcohol dependence shows a variety of changes compared to non-alcoholic control persons. All alcoholics' brains share some characteristics, but some are exclusive to the brain tissue of anxiety-prone type 1 alcoholics or impulsive type 2 alcoholics, according to a recent study from the University of Eastern Finland.

29 Apr 2016

Nicotine metabolism linked with chronic alcohol abuse may contribute to poor smoking cessation rates

For smokers who are addicted to alcohol, chronic alcohol abuse may increase the rate of nicotine metabolism and contribute to poor smoking cessation rates. When smokers stop drinking the nicotine metabolism rates decline significantly, according to a study conducted by an international research team led by Roswell Park Cancer Institute. The research was a collaboration of scientists from Roswell Park, the University of California, San Francisco, and the Medical University of Silesia and Center of Addiction Treatment in Poland.

29 Apr 2016

UNC-Chapel Hill researchers identify functional brain circuit that controls alcohol binge drinking

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have identified a circuit between two brain regions that controls alcohol binge drinking, offering a more complete picture on what drives a behavior that costs the United States more than $170 billion annually and how it can be treated.

27 Apr 2016

Researchers use heavy and non-heavy drinking levels to evaluate effectiveness of alcohol treatment

One of the challenges in evaluating the effectiveness of alcohol treatment is determining what constitutes a "good" outcome or meaningful improvement. While abstinence at the end of treatment is clearly a good outcome, a focus on abstinence ignores the benefits of patients reducing their drinking to less problematic levels so that they can function better and incur fewer social costs.

26 Apr 2016