Highlights:
- Baclofen has recently become popular as wonder drug to cure
alcoholism and is especially well tolerated since it is predominantly
excreted by the kidneys
- Recent meta-analysis suggests that baclofen may not be very
effective in treating alcoholism
Baclofen may be
ineffective in treating alcohol-related disorders,
according
to a recent meta-analysis study conducted by a research
team from the University of Liverpool and published in the
Addiction journal.
Baclofen
has been
used since the 1970s as a
skeletal muscle relaxant in spasticity associated conditions and recently
gained prominence for its possible role in curing alcoholism (affecting the
liver),
especially as it is well-tolerated, being predominantly excreted by the kidneys.
‘Study outcomes suggesting the use of baclofen as wonder drug for treating alcohol use disorders might be premature.’
Meta-analysis Study on Efficacy of Baclofen in Reducing Risk Factors of
Alcohol
Abuse was conducted by Dr Abi Rose and Dr Andy Jones, from the
University's Addiction Research Team.
A meta-analysis of all 12 clinical trials compared
baclofen with placebo on at least one of the several risk factors
such as
anxiety, depression or craving,
which can result in excessive harmful drinking.
Meta-analysis
is an
advanced statistical procedure
that enables the analyst to merge the results of all the available research on
a specific topic into a measurable quantity that represents the quantum of
the overall effect of one variable on another variable (for example
anxiety on drinking). Thus,
meta-analysis
involves collective study
and offers more precise and reliable results when compared to the outcome
of just a single research or study.
Key
findings of the meta-analysis were the following:
- Baclofen resulted in higher abstinent rates
compared with placebo; for every 8 persons treated with baclofen, one
remained abstinent
However,
all other outcomes analyzed
did not show any relation to baclofen effect
- Baclofen failed to increase number
of abstinent days or reduce number of heavy drinking days during the
treatment
- Baclofen did not reduce anxiety,
depression or craving for alcohol all of which are risk factors
for a heavy drinking outcome
Thus, the meta-analysis
failed to find conclusive evidence to support the use of baclofen in treating
alcohol abuse disorders.
Dr
Rose, said: "Our research highlights several issues with the existing body
of trials." Many of the studies only recruited a limited number of patients, so
maybe too small to find an effect.
"The
existing trials also differ on a number of factors, such as the dose of
baclofen given and the length of treatment. Importantly, the pharmacokinetics
of baclofen (how it moves in the body) are not well-understood, so there may be
individual factors influencing the effectiveness of baclofen that we do not yet
understand."
Potential Limitation of
Earlier Studies Supporting Use of Baclofen In Alcohol Disorders
Several studies have found baclofen to be highly
effective in treating alcohol use disorders; some have claimed it to be '
wonder drug' capable of treating alcoholism. Following numerous successful clinical
trials, the
use of use of baclofen for this purpose increased several fold and sales of the
drug increased in a few countries.
However,
in more recent years, there has been an increasing number of
studies which directly compared baclofen against placebo
on a number of outcome measures
. Most
of these
outcome measures are
drink-related, for instance
- Degree of abstinence at the end of
the treatment trial
- Number of abstinent or heavy
drinking days during the trial
However,
there are
other risk factors identified with excessive drinking andthe role of baclofen in addressing
these risk factors may not have been adequately quantified while recommending
the use of baclofen in alcohol abuse disorders.
Certain
factors have been identified, namely
the following such as whether
- Baclofen could reduce alcohol
craving
- Baclofen can decrease negative mood
states, such as anxiety and depression, which are well-known
risk factors for harmful drinking
The current meta-analysis
therefore conducted their study to focus on the effectiveness of baclofen in
reducing these risk factors leading to harmful drinking.
It
may be apt to conclude with the remarks of Dr Jones, who says, "This new
meta-analysis shows that baclofen is no more effective than placebo on a range
of key outcome measures, suggesting that the
current increasing use of baclofen as a treatment for alcohol use
disorders is premature."
References :- Baclofen - (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baclofen)
Source: Medindia
Careers
