Dose‐Effect Relationship of Disulfiram in Human Volunteers. I: Clinical Studies

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between Antabus dosage and the disulfiram-alcohol reaction (DAR) after ethanol challenge. Fifty-two healthy volunteers, 29 men and 23 women, aged 20-61 years, were treated with increasing doses of Antabuse (1, 100, 200, 300 mg) for 14 days each. At the end of each 14 days the volunteers were challenged with 0.15 g ethanol/kg body weight. Blood pressure, pulse rate, respiration rate, and symptoms such as flushing, heat sensation, nausea, vomiting, palpitations, breathlessness, and headache were monitored for the next 50 min. The volunteers left the study when they had experienced a valid DAR. A valid DAR, which was principally defined on the basis of the patients' feeling of discomfort, but for safety reasons also on the basis of unacceptable circulatory changes, was reached in 21 out of 52 volunteers after 100 mg Antabuse, in 27 after 200 mg, and in 4 after 300 mg. Most of them left the study after flushing and circulatory changes, but did not feel ill enough to be convinced that they should abstain from drinking. Ten volunteers with weak subjective symptoms, but with a valid DAR, were therefore rechallenged after the next increased dose and experienced a somewhat stronger reaction. We conclude that a daily dose of 200 mg Antabuse brings about a substantial reaction in volunteers in the presence of alcohol. The possible need for a 300 mg dose of Antabuse to prevent a patient from drinking was discussed.