Understanding How Alcohol Policies Impact Public Health

Supporting research to inform the development and implementation of alcohol policies and to evaluate their effectiveness has been an important priority of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) for many years. Alcohol policy represents a broad approach for intervening with alcohol misuse and related problems that can affect all individuals within a … Read more

New Research Characterizes Alcohol Use Disorder Profiles To Predict Treatment Outcomes

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a heterogeneous disorder, meaning individuals with AUD differ in their clinical symptoms and in the biological and psychological factors that contribute to their disorder. A better understanding of individual differences in AUD could inform the development of tailored treatment approaches to increase treatment effectiveness. New research from the University of … Read more

Researchers Gain New Insight Into the Development of Severe Alcohol-Associated Hepatitis

Alcohol misuse can lead to alcohol-associated hepatitis (AH), a form of liver disease with a high short-term mortality rate in severe cases. Currently, no medications have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat AH, and liver transplantation is often required due to liver failure. A better understanding of how AH develops … Read more

Closing the Treatment Gap for Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease

Drinking too much—whether on a single occasion or over many years—can take a serious toll on an individual’s health. Clinicians across the health care spectrum can play important roles in preventing and treating the harmful effects of alcohol. This role is particularly important among providers who manage patients with liver diseases. Alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) … Read more

Looking for Science-Based Resources about Alcohol and Health?

Alcohol has been very much in the news this year from discussions about the contribution of alcohol in causing cancer to mocktails to Dry January, all reflecting a changing conversation about alcohol. As a result, there is so much information about alcohol in the news and on social media that it can be hard to … Read more

NIH-funded study finds hepatitis C treatment gap for individuals with alcohol use disorder

A new study supported by the National Institutes of Health shows that individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD) are less likely to receive antivirals for hepatitis C, despite current guidelines recommending antiviral treatment regardless of alcohol use. Direct-acting antiviral treatment is highly effective at reducing serious illness and death among individuals with hepatitis C virus … Read more