Impact of a One-month Long Detoxification Diazepam Treatment on Early Alcohol Relapse
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2016-07-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Alcohol-dependence is a medical condition that can lead to the occurrence of an alcohol
withdrawal syndrome (AWS) in case of alcohol drinking cessation. Diazepam is the reference
medication for preventing or treating AWS. The recommended average diazepam treatment
duration is usually around one week, and this duration is generally not considered to impact
the subsequent relapse rate in alcohol drinking.
However, several previous studies have found that patients experienced frequent anxious
symptoms during the weeks following detoxification. Such symptoms may foster early relapse in
alcohol drinking. Furthermore, it has been suggested that this anxiety could pertain to late
withdrawal symptoms.
The DIAMA study hypothesizes that extending the diazepam detoxification treatment to one
month can significantly reduce the cumulated relapse rate in alcohol drinking over the three
following months.