National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

At some time during their lives, more than 30 percent of U.S. adults surveyed in 2001-2002 had met current diagnostic criteria [i] for an alcohol use disorder (AUD), according to an article in the current issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry . Many of those persons never received treatment, and many others did not receive treatment until well after...

Analyses of a national sample of individuals with alcohol dependence (alcoholism) reveal five distinct subtypes of the disease, according to a new study by scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). “Our findings should help dispel the popular notion of the ‘typical alcoholic,’” notes first author Howard B...

Girls who suffered childhood sexual abuse are more likely to develop alcoholism later in life if they possess a particular variant of a gene involved in the body’s response to stress, according to a new study led by researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The new finding...

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), components of the National Institutes of Health, have collaborated with HBO to create an eye-opening documentary, ADDICTION, to air on Thursday, March 15 (9:00-10:30 p.m. ET/PT). The documentary, developed with funding support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, seeks to help Americans understand...

A genetic variant of a receptor in the brain’s reward circuitry heightens the stimulating effects of early exposures to alcohol and increases alcohol consumption, according to a new study by researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Conducted in rhesus monkeys, the study extends previous research that suggests...

The brains of alcohol-dependent individuals are affected not only by their own heavy drinking, but also by genetic or environmental factors associated with their parents’ drinking, according to a new study by researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Researchers found reduced brain growth among alcohol-dependent individuals with...

News Advisory Updated Guide Offers Clinicians New Tools to Help Patients With Alcohol Problems What: Announces update of Helping Patients Who Drink Too Much: A Clinician’s Guide, produced by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Why: The updated Guide includes a new medications management program that consists of brief...

Updated Guide Offers Clinicians New Tools to Help Patients with Alcohol Problems The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has updated a guide that provides tools that can be used by clinicians to help patients with alcohol problems. - Listen to Dr. Mark Willenbring's NIH radio interview on the Updated Clinician's Guide . - Read the Transcript .

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have discovered a gene mutation in fruit flies that alters sensitivity to alcohol. The findings, reported in the October 6 issue of the journal Cell, may have implications for human studies seeking to understand innate differences in people’s tolerance for alcohol . The research was supported by the National Institute on...

Relapse to uncontrolled drinking after periods of sobriety is a defining characteristic of alcoholism and is often triggered by stress. A new study in rats reports that a specific receptor for a stress-response transmitter may play an important role in stress-induced relapse. The study, a collaboration between scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of...

Individuals who become alcohol dependent before age 25 are less likely to ever seek treatment than those who become alcohol dependent at age 30 or older, according to a new study supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). They also are more likely to have multiple dependence episodes...

"The wrong road early," an interview with Dr. Ralph Hingson and HHS HealthBeat. - Listen to the interview with Dr. Ralph Hingson (September 6, 2006) - Read the transcript

Data from a survey of 43,000 U.S. adults heighten concerns that early alcohol use, independent of other risk factors, may contribute to the risk of developing future alcohol problems. Those who began drinking in their early teens were not only at greater risk of developing alcohol dependence at some point in their lives, they were also at greater risk of...

NIAAA ANNOUNCEMENT “Rethinking Alcohol Use Disorders: Science, Diagnosis, Treatment and Policy” NIAAA Track at APA Annual Meeting Press Briefing Arlington, Va. – The American Psychiatric Association (APA) will highlight the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) track “Rethinking Alcohol Use Disorders: Science, Diagnosis, Treatment and Policy” at the 159 th Annual Meeting in Toronto, Ontario, at a press...

The medication naltrexone and up to 20 sessions of alcohol counseling by a behavioral specialist are equally effective treatments for alcohol dependence when delivered with structured medical management, according to results from "Combining Medications and Behavioral Interventions for Alcoholism" (The COMBINE Study). Results from the National Institutes of Health-supported study show that patients who received naltrexone, specialized alcohol counseling, or...

Researchers supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), have identified new genes that may contribute to excessive alcohol consumption. The new study, conducted with strains of animals that have either a high or low innate preference for alcohol, provides clues about the molecular mechanisms that underlie the tendency...

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) have identified a previously unknown gene variant that doubles an individual’s risk for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The new functional variant, or allele, is a component of the serotonin transporter gene ( SERT), site of action for the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) that are...

Vulnerability to both alcohol and nicotine abuse may be influenced by the same genetic factor, according to a recent study supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In the study, two genetically distinct kinds of rat – one an innately heavy-drinking strain bred to prefer alcohol (“P” rats)...

Unhealthy alcohol drinking patterns may go hand-in-hand with unhealthy eating habits, according to a new study by researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Examining diet quality of individuals who drink any kind of alcoholic beverage, researchers found that people who...

Findings from the largest survey ever mounted on the co-occurrence of psychiatric disorders among U.S. adults afford a sharper picture than previously available of major depressive disorder* (MDD) in specific population subgroups and of MDD’s relationship to alcohol use disorders (AUDs) ** and other mental health conditions. The new analysis of data from the 2001-2002 National Epidemiologic Survey of Alcohol...