Addiction Medicine Part 2: Alcohol

Course overview

Alcohol use disorder is a serious national health problem in the United States. It is estimated that more than 14 million American adults had an alcohol use disorder in 2019, as well as 414,000 adolescents aged 12 to 17 (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2021). There are over 95,000 deaths every year that are directly attributed to alcohol use, and the economic cost of alcohol use is astounding: excessive alcohol use in the United States is said to cost nearly $250 billion annually (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2019). In the United States, alcohol use disorder has a lifetime prevalence of approximately 29%. Despite the high prevalence and common complications, alcohol use disorder is undertreated. Less than 10% of patients with a diagnosis of alcohol use disorder in the past 12 months receive any treatment, and only around 6% of patients with alcohol use disorder receive evidence-based care (Reus et al, 2018). There is a clear need for improvement in the treatment of this common condition; this course serves to review the recognition, diagnosis, and treatment of alcohol use disorder.