Alcohol Rehabilitation Can Reduce Hospital Readmission, Relapse, and Mortality in Patients with Alcoholic Hepatitis

Early alcohol rehabilitation can reduce the risk of hospital readmission, alcohol relapse, and mortality among patients hospitalized for alcoholic hepatitis (AH), according to a recent National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) supported study. AH is a potentially life-threatening alcohol-associated liver disease; many patients who are hospitalized with severe cases of AH die within … Read more

Alcohol-related deaths increasing in the United States

An analysis of U.S. death certificate data by researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health, found that nearly 1 million people died from alcohol-related causes between 1999 and 2017. The number of death certificates mentioning alcohol more than doubled from 35,914 in 1999 to … Read more

The Complex Relationship Between Alcohol and Pain

The relationship between alcohol and pain is a complicated one. It is a common belief that alcohol dulls pain, yet research shows that sometimes alcohol can make pain worse. Understanding the complex relationship between alcohol and pain is an important area of research for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). In 2016, … Read more

Alcohol and “Deaths of Despair”

In 2015, Princeton University economists Anne Case, Ph.D., and Angus Deaton, Ph.D., reported something unexpected. After decreasing since the end of World War II, rates of death began to increase in the United States for people in some groups. The rise in deaths was driven primarily by drug and alcohol overdoses, suicides, and liver disease. … Read more

New preclinical study points to potential role of human gene in addiction

A new study led by researchers at the National Institute and Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), identifies regions of the rat genome that are associated with a behavior that is highly predictive of addiction onset and progression. The region in the rat genome with the strongest association … Read more

Integrated stepped alcohol treatment for people in HIV care improves both HIV and alcohol outcomes

New clinical research supported by the National Institutes of Health shows that increasing the intensity of treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD) over time improves alcohol-related outcomes among people with HIV. This stepped approach to AUD treatment also improves HIV-related disease measures in this patient population.  A report of the new study, led by researchers … Read more