News from the Field

The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test–Consumption (AUDIT-C) is a key, three-question tool used by health professionals to screen people for alcohol misuse. Although previous clinical research has validated use of the AUDIT-C, its test–retest reliability—a measure of the consistency of a test’s results over time—has not been evaluated in routine-care conditions with adult primary care patients. 

Scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) have identified brain pathways that may coordinate an animal’s response to potentially traumatic situations. Understanding where and how neural circuits mediate such functions—and how they could malfunction—may provide clues about their role in trauma-related and stress-related psychiatric disorders in people. A report of this NIAAA research was published in the journal Nature.

Intramural scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and collaborators from The Scripps Research Institute, found that semaglutide reduces alcohol consumption and binge-like drinking in a rodent model of alcohol misuse. Published in the June 2023 issue of the journal JCI Insight, the study adds to growing preclinical evidence that the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) system plays a role in alcohol and other substance use disorders, and that GLP-1 receptor agonists show potential for treating people with alcohol

Using alcohol to cope with social anxiety is associated with increased substance use and more consequences among young adults, according to a study by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)-supported researchers. The findings also suggest that young adults who drink to cope with social anxiety experience more negative consequences associated with their alcohol use, on average.

Spironolactone, a medication for heart problems and high blood pressure, may also be effective for treating alcohol use disorder (AUD), according to a new National Institutes of Health study. The study presents converging evidence from experiments in rodents, as well as electronic health data from humans, suggesting that spironolactone may play a role in reducing alcohol drinking. The research, published in Molecular Psychiatry, was led by scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and Yale School of Medicine in

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 New Mexico, the University of Washington, and Syracuse University published in Psychology of Addictive Behaviors shows that assessing patients based on biological and psychological domains of addiction could

Scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) have released a new definition of recovery from alcohol use disorder (AUD) that addresses limitations associated with prior AUD recovery definitions and lays the groundwork for future recovery-related research. In a recent review article, Brett Hagman, Ph.D., Dan Falk, Ph.D., Raye Litten, Ph.D., and NIAAA Director George F. Koob, Ph.D., explain that

Gene editing could one day help reverse anxiety and excessive drinking caused by adolescent exposure to alcohol, according to a new study in rats supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). A team of investigators led by NIAAA grantee Subhash C. Pandey, Ph.D., the Joseph A. Flaherty-endowed professor of psychiatry and director of the Alcohol Research Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago, published a report of the findings in the May 2022 issue of Science Advances.

Suicide deaths involving heavy alcohol use have increased significantly among women in recent years, according to a new study supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). Previous research has shown that alcohol is a risk factor for suicidal behavior and that women have a higher risk than men do for suicide while intoxicated. And in the two decades leading up to 2018, suicide death rates in the United States increased, with the rate among women increasing faster than the rate among men.

The need for physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic ushered in an expansion in the use of technologies to minimize person-to-person contact. The healthcare industry in particular saw a rapid growth of measures, collectively known as telehealth or telemedicine, to provide care and facilitate interactions between providers and patients.