High craving is associated with fewer abstinent days and lesser time to relapse during treatment in severe alcohol use disorder

Background: Craving, an integral aspect of addictive processes, underlies heavy alcohol consumption and alcohol use disorder (AUD). Western studies point out that craving is associated with relapse risks in AUD treatment. The feasibility of assessing and following up with craving dynamicity is not s...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Soundarya Soundararajan, Pratima Murthy
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2023-03-01
Series:Indian Journal of Psychiatry
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_550_22
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832593647842885632
author Soundarya Soundararajan
Pratima Murthy
author_facet Soundarya Soundararajan
Pratima Murthy
author_sort Soundarya Soundararajan
collection DOAJ
description Background: Craving, an integral aspect of addictive processes, underlies heavy alcohol consumption and alcohol use disorder (AUD). Western studies point out that craving is associated with relapse risks in AUD treatment. The feasibility of assessing and following up with craving dynamicity is not studied in the Indian context. Aim: We aimed to capture craving and explore its association with relapse in an outpatient facility. Methods: Among 264 treatment-seeking male participants (mean [SD] age = 36 [6.7] years) with severe AUD, craving was assessed according to the Penn Alcohol Craving Scale (PACS) at treatment initiation and two follow-up visits (median follow-up: 1, 2 weeks). Days to drink and percentage of days abstinent were acquired during the follow-ups (maximum follow-up days = 355). Those lost to follow-up were censored and considered as having relapsed. Results: High craving was associated with fewer days to drink when considered as a sole predictor (P = 0.030). With covariates including medication at treatment initiation, high craving was marginally associated with fewer days to drink (P = 0.057). Baseline craving was negatively associated with proximal percentage of days abstinent (P = 0.015) and cravings at follow-ups negatively correlated with cross-sectional abstinent days (FU1: P = 0.009, FU2: P = 0.019). Craving reduced significantly over time (P < 0.001), irrespective of the drinking status in follow-ups. Conclusion: Relapse is a real challenge in AUD. The utility of craving assessment in identifying relapse risk in an outpatient facility helps in identifying an at-risk population for future relapse. Thus better-targeted approaches in treating AUD can be developed.
format Article
id doaj-art-d8478b9477014d6e97c07f922448765c
institution Kabale University
issn 0019-5545
1998-3794
language English
publishDate 2023-03-01
publisher Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
record_format Article
series Indian Journal of Psychiatry
spelling doaj-art-d8478b9477014d6e97c07f922448765c2025-01-20T11:09:54ZengWolters Kluwer Medknow PublicationsIndian Journal of Psychiatry0019-55451998-37942023-03-0165331932610.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_550_22High craving is associated with fewer abstinent days and lesser time to relapse during treatment in severe alcohol use disorderSoundarya SoundararajanPratima MurthyBackground: Craving, an integral aspect of addictive processes, underlies heavy alcohol consumption and alcohol use disorder (AUD). Western studies point out that craving is associated with relapse risks in AUD treatment. The feasibility of assessing and following up with craving dynamicity is not studied in the Indian context. Aim: We aimed to capture craving and explore its association with relapse in an outpatient facility. Methods: Among 264 treatment-seeking male participants (mean [SD] age = 36 [6.7] years) with severe AUD, craving was assessed according to the Penn Alcohol Craving Scale (PACS) at treatment initiation and two follow-up visits (median follow-up: 1, 2 weeks). Days to drink and percentage of days abstinent were acquired during the follow-ups (maximum follow-up days = 355). Those lost to follow-up were censored and considered as having relapsed. Results: High craving was associated with fewer days to drink when considered as a sole predictor (P = 0.030). With covariates including medication at treatment initiation, high craving was marginally associated with fewer days to drink (P = 0.057). Baseline craving was negatively associated with proximal percentage of days abstinent (P = 0.015) and cravings at follow-ups negatively correlated with cross-sectional abstinent days (FU1: P = 0.009, FU2: P = 0.019). Craving reduced significantly over time (P < 0.001), irrespective of the drinking status in follow-ups. Conclusion: Relapse is a real challenge in AUD. The utility of craving assessment in identifying relapse risk in an outpatient facility helps in identifying an at-risk population for future relapse. Thus better-targeted approaches in treating AUD can be developed.https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_550_22alcohol use disordercravingdays to drinkpenn alcohol craving scalerelapse
spellingShingle Soundarya Soundararajan
Pratima Murthy
High craving is associated with fewer abstinent days and lesser time to relapse during treatment in severe alcohol use disorder
Indian Journal of Psychiatry
alcohol use disorder
craving
days to drink
penn alcohol craving scale
relapse
title High craving is associated with fewer abstinent days and lesser time to relapse during treatment in severe alcohol use disorder
title_full High craving is associated with fewer abstinent days and lesser time to relapse during treatment in severe alcohol use disorder
title_fullStr High craving is associated with fewer abstinent days and lesser time to relapse during treatment in severe alcohol use disorder
title_full_unstemmed High craving is associated with fewer abstinent days and lesser time to relapse during treatment in severe alcohol use disorder
title_short High craving is associated with fewer abstinent days and lesser time to relapse during treatment in severe alcohol use disorder
title_sort high craving is associated with fewer abstinent days and lesser time to relapse during treatment in severe alcohol use disorder
topic alcohol use disorder
craving
days to drink
penn alcohol craving scale
relapse
url https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_550_22
work_keys_str_mv AT soundaryasoundararajan highcravingisassociatedwithfewerabstinentdaysandlessertimetorelapseduringtreatmentinseverealcoholusedisorder
AT pratimamurthy highcravingisassociatedwithfewerabstinentdaysandlessertimetorelapseduringtreatmentinseverealcoholusedisorder