Clinical predictive factors to disulfiram treatment outcome in alcohol dependent patients - a cross-sectional study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine possible predictive factors to disulfiram treatment outcome in patients with a long history of alcohol dependency. This study examined the association between sociodemographic, and clinical factors, and disulfiram treatment outcome in long-term alcohol dependent patients. A total of 46 alcohol dependent patients participating in the disulfiram treatment program in Mannheim have been assessed by standardized questionnaires (for example german version of the MOS support survey) in a cross-sectional study design. At the time of the assessment all subjects have already been treated with disulfiram for several weeks. We found significantly higher cumulative abstinence in patients with a current partnership. The assessed emotional, practical and cognitive social support was significantly higher in patients who were currently living in a partnership. Independently of other sociodemographic or clinical factors such as age, gender, work situation, comorbidities or severity of alcohol dependence, the patients who experienced increased functional social support showed an higher cumulative abstinence. Furthermore there is a significant positive correlation between the cognitive support and the educational level of the patients. The main predictive factor of a successfull disulfiram treatment outcome is a current partnership which implied an overall higher functional multidimensional social support.