Impact of a One-month Long Detoxification Diazepam Treatment on Early Alcohol Relapse

• Status: Completed
• Trial end date: 2016-07-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

Alcohol-dependence is a medical condition that can lead to the occurrence of an alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS) in case of alcohol drinking cessation. Diazepam is the reference medication for preventing or treating AWS. The recommended average diazepam treatment duration is usually around one week, and this duration is generally not considered to impact the subsequent relapse rate in alcohol drinking.

However, several previous studies have found that patients experienced frequent anxious symptoms during the weeks following detoxification. Such symptoms may foster early relapse in alcohol drinking. Furthermore, it has been suggested that this anxiety could pertain to late withdrawal symptoms.

The DIAMA study hypothesizes that extending the diazepam detoxification treatment to one month can significantly reduce the cumulated relapse rate in alcohol drinking over the three following months.

• Phase: N/A
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: University Hospital, Lille
• Treatments: Diazepam; Ethanol

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• DSM-IV-Tr criteria for alcohol dependence

• Diazepam-based outpatient detoxification procedure started 5 days prior to inclusion

Exclusion Criteria:

• contraindication for outpatient detoxification

• occurrence of delirium tremens or seizures during the pre-inclusion period

• contraindication for using diazepam

• any other DSM-IV-TR criteria for substance abuse or dependence in the preceding year (except from tobacco)

• concurrent axis-I psychiatric disorder

• concurrent neurological pathology or cognitive impairment

• concurrent social risk, i.e., homelessness or social isolation

• liver failure, cancer, or significant breathing disorder