Citalopram Effects on Craving and Dopamine Receptor Availability in Alcoholics
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2017-09-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are highly prevalent among U.S. civilians, and even more
prevalent in the U.S. Veteran population. AUDs are frequently co-morbid with depressive
symptoms in psychiatric clinical populations, resulting in an increased severity of both
conditions. Indeed, returning Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF)/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)
Veterans have extraordinarily high rates of alcohol misuse and co-morbid psychiatric
symptoms, indicating that future Veteran clinical populations will be particularly affected
by AUDs. While FDA-approved medications are available to treat AUDs, their efficacy is low
compared to available psychosocial treatments. Despite the lack of evidence for efficacy from
controlled trials, antidepressants are frequently prescribed to clinical populations
(including Veterans) with active AUDs. A better understanding of patient-level clinical
variables that may confer poor response to treatment with antidepressants would allow
clinicians better tools to distinguish those alcohol-dependent Veterans likely to do worse
with antidepressant treatment.