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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Anticonvulsants for Alcohol Dependence

About this resource:

Systematic Review

Source: The Cochrane Collaborative

Last Reviewed: Feburary 2014

Workgroups: Substance Use Workgroup

In this Cochrane systematic review, the Cochrane Collaborative found that there isn’t enough evidence to support using anticonvulsants to treat alcohol dependence. The review included studies comparing anticonvulsants with placebo and with naltrexone. Researchers concluded that, because available evidence isn’t certain, health care providers need to balance the possible benefits and risks of using anticonvulsants compared with other medicines.

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Objectives related to this resource (1)

Reduce the proportion of people who had alcohol use disorder in the past year — SU‑13
Little or no detectable change

Suggested Citation

1.

Pani, P.P., Trogu, E., Pacini, M. & Maremmani, I. (2014). Anticonvulsants for alcohol dependence. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2014 (2). DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD008544.pub2.