Skip Navigation



Alcohol and Alcoholism Advance Access published online on December 13, 2005
Alcohol and Alcoholism, doi:10.1093/alcalc/agh252
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
41/2/168    most recent
agh252v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by MARQUENIE, L. A.
Right arrow Articles by VAN DYCK, R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by MARQUENIE, L. A.
Right arrow Articles by VAN DYCK, R.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Medical Council on Alcohol. All rights reserved
Received September 29, 2005
Revised November 9, 2005
Accepted November 10, 2005

Article

COMORBID PHOBIC DISORDERS DO NOT INFLUENCE OUTCOME OF ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE TREATMENT. RESULTS OF A NATURALISTIC FOLLOW-UP STUDY

LOES A. MARQUENIE 1 *, ANNEMIEK SCHADÉ 1, ANTON J. L. M. VAN BALKOM 1, MAARTEN KOETER 2, SIPKE FRENKEN 1, WIM VAN DEN BRINK 2, and RICHARD VAN DYCK 1

1 Department of Psychiatry and Institute for Research in Extramural Medicine, VU--University Medical Centre, GGZ Buitenamstel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2 Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam Institute for Addiction Research, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
LOES A. MARQUENIE, E-mail: LMarquenie{at}ggzba.nl


  Abstract

Aims: Despite claims that comorbid anxiety disorders tend to lead to a poor outcome in the treatment of alcohol dependence, the few studies on this topic show conflicting results. Objective: To test whether the outcome of treatment-seeking alcohol-dependent patients with a comorbid phobic disorder is worse than that of similar patients without a comorbid phobic disorder. Methods: The probabilities of starting to drink again and of relapsing into regular heavy drinking in (i) a group of 81 alcohol-dependent patients with comorbid social phobia or agoraphobia were compared with those in (ii) a group of 88 alcohol-dependent patients without anxiety disorders in a naturalistic follow-up using Cox regression analysis. Results: Adjusted for initial group differences, the hazard ratio for the association of phobic disorders with resumption of drinking was 1.05 (95% CI, 0.85-1.30, P = 0.66) and the adjusted hazard ratio for the association of phobic disorders with a relapse into regular heavy drinking was 1.02 (95% CI, 0.78-1.33, P = 0.89). Conclusion: The findings of this study do not confirm the idea that alcohol-dependent patients who have undergone alcohol-dependence treatment are at greater risk of a relapse if they have a comorbid anxiety disorder. No differences were found in abstinence duration or time to relapse into regular heavy drinking between patients with and without comorbid phobic disorders.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.