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Article: Alcohol dependence.(medications for alcoholism underused)
- Article from:
- Internal Medicine News
- Article date:
- March 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 International Medical News Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The medications approved to treat alcohol dependence are severely underused despite evidence of their efficacy. It's estimated that less than 1% of people with alcohol dependence and abuse receive medication as part of their treatment. That's despite a call by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism for both primary care and mental health physicians to screen for alcohol abuse and then intervene or refer when needed. The NIAAA publishes a clinician's guide for helping patients who drink too much (http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/Practitioner/CliniciansGuide2005/guide.pdf).
Last December, the Food and Drug Administration gave "approvable" ...