National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

Show your patients a standard drink chart when asking about their alcohol consumption to encourage more accurate estimates. Drinks often contain more alcohol than people think, and patients often underestimate their consumption. Advise some patients not to drink at all, including those who are managing health conditions that can be worsened by alcohol, are taking medications that could interact with alcohol, are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, or are under age 21.

What is the Core Resource on Alcohol? The Healthcare Professional’s Core Resource on Alcohol consists of 14 interconnected articles covering the basics of what every healthcare professional needs to know about alcohol. The “Core” was developed by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), a part of the National Institutes of Health. NIAAA is the lead federal agency...

Stigma refers to negative beliefs about individuals or groups based on characteristics that may set them apart from others, such as mental health conditions including alcohol use disorder (AUD).

Helping Your Patients with Alcohol-Related Problems. Alcohol contributes to more than 200 health conditions and about 99,000 deaths in the U.S. each year. Yet alcohol-related risks often go unaddressed in healthcare settings.

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) frequently occurs with other mental health disorders, and vice versa. Primary care providers and other clinicians are well positioned to identify these conditions, make informed clinical decisions, and refer patients to specialists, thereby improving treatment outcomes.

With a brief intervention, you can help patients who drink too much to cut back or quit alcohol use as needed.

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as “a problematic pattern of alcohol use leading to clinically significant impairment or distress,” and is diagnosed as mild, moderate, or severe based on the number of symptoms, out of a possible 11, in the past 12 months.

With small, incremental steps, you can create and support a better system of care for your patients with alcohol-related problems.

Alcohol screening and brief intervention ranks highly among effective preventive services based on its cost-effectiveness and potential to reduce clinically preventable burden. Screening for heavy drinking can be done easily and effectively if you make it a routine part of care and use a brief tool recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force that identifies people with unhealthy alcohol use.

Most people with AUD can and do recover, and their individual paths to recovery vary widely. By highlighting the likelihood of recovery, you may encourage more patients with AUD to accept treatment or to reduce their drinking with or without treatment.

For some patients, alcohol treatment referral may not be a single event but instead part of an ongoing process of engagement. You can help patients surmount barriers to following through on a treatment referral by countering the effects of stigma, conveying that treatment can be effective, and offering a range of choices for care.

The size of the older adult population is increasing rapidly. Alcohol use among older adults is also increasing . Data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health indicate that approximately 20 percent of adults aged 60-64 and around 10 percent over age 65 report current binge drinking. Older adults can experience a variety of problems from drinking alcohol...

DHHS, NIH, NIAAA AGENDA 166 th Meeting of the NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL ON ALCOHOL ABUSE AND ALCOHOLISM Tuesday, May 7th, 2024 Hybrid Meeting In Person 6700B Rockledge Drive, Conference Rooms A,B,C -- Bethesda, MD 20817 NIH Video Cast https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=54694 11:00 AM to 3:30 PM: OPEN TO THE PUBLIC (HYBRID) 11:00 AM CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL George Koob, Ph.D...

Wednesday, May 8, 2024, 10:00 am EDT to Wednesday, May 8, 2024, 3:30 pm EDT

The 12th Joint Meeting (11th CRAN) of the National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the National Cancer Advisory Board, and the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse will meet on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. The meeting is open to the public, 10:00 AM to 3:30 PM EDT. Available on NIH Videocast: https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=54696. View the Agenda .

Tuesday, May 7, 2024, 11:00 am EDT to Tuesday, May 7, 2024, 3:30 pm EDT

The 166th Meeting of the National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism will meet Tuesday, May 7th, 2024 The event is a Hybrid Meeting In-Person Location: 6700B Rockledge Drive, Conference Rooms A,B,C, in Bethesda, MD 20817 Online through NIH Video Cast: https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=54694 View the Agenda .

Shailesh Kumar September 07, 2023 Purpose The concept aims to explore the influence of sleep disturbance on hyperkatifeia during alcohol withdrawal. It seeks to gain a comprehensive understanding of hyperkatifeia’s features and its connection with sleep disruptions, while also developing focused interventions to alleviate symptoms, enhance emotional regulation, and improve the well-being of individuals experiencing hyperkatifeia. Background Alcohol induced withdrawal...

Kendal Bryant, Ph.D. September 07, 2023 Purpose The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) supports a broad-based Alcohol Research Centers program to foster and conduct interdisciplinary, collaborative research on the effects of varied patterns of alcohol use and associated alcohol use disorders and the broad impact of alcohol on health and disease at the individual, group, and societal...

Kathy Jung, Ph.D. February 09, 2023 Purpose The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) seeks to continue the Alcohol-associated hepatitis (AH) research program, a multi-center translational and clinical network (AlcHepNet), established in 2012 with renewal in 2018. The goal of AlcHepNet is to accelerate the discovery and validation of new diagnostic and treatment options for patients with severe...