THE EFFICACY OF TREATMENTS IN REDUCING ALCOHOL-CONSUMPTION - A METAANALYSIS

Meta-analysis was used to assess the relative efficacy of various trea tments in reducing alcohol consumption over the short-term, 6 months, and 12 months. All the treatments were administered in well-controlled studies. In the short-term and 1-year follow-up studies, patients in the experimental group drank much less than the control group. However , between group consumption differences were negligible in the 6-month studies. When the studies were pooled, regardless of the follow-up as sessment periods, the experimental group drank significantly less than the control group. These results suggest that, in general, patients w ho received experimental treatments consumed much less alcohol than pa tients in the control groups.