Volume intake and craving in alcohol withdrawal.
OBJECTIVE
It has been shown that beer consumption is associated with alcohol craving, in contrast to wine or spirits consumption. The present study was undertaken to evaluate whether the daily volume intake of alcoholic beverages is associated with craving in patients undergoing alcohol withdrawal.


METHODS
A total of 158 male patients were assessed using the obsessive compulsive drinking scale (OCDS) at admission. The daily volume intake of alcoholic beverages was calculated by adding the volume of all regularly consumed alcoholic beverages, disregarding their alcohol percentage. Lesch's typology was used to classify patients for subgroup analysis.


RESULTS
The daily volume intake of alcoholic beverages correlated significantly with the extent of the OCDS (r = 0.33; P < 0.001). With general linear models, we found a significant association of the calculated daily volume intake of all alcoholic beverages with craving (F = 6.426; P = 0.012), but not for the daily ethanol intake. Differentiating the patients according to Lesch's typology a significant association was particularly found in Lesch Type 2 (model of anxiety) patients (F = 11.31; P = 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Our results support the hypothesis that volume intake is associated with craving and suggest a role of pathophysiological changes in volume regulating mechanisms (such as vasopressin or ANP) in the neurobiology of alcohol craving, particularly in male patients of Lesch's Type 2 undergoing alcohol withdrawal.
Hillemacher
Thomas
T
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schwabachanlage 6, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany. thomas.hillemacher@psych.imed.uni-erlangen.de
Bayerlein
Kristina
K
Wilhelm
Julia
J
Poleo
Daniela
D
Frieling
Helge
H
Ziegenbein
Marc
M
Sperling
Wolfgang
W
Kornhuber
Johannes
J
Bleich
Stefan
S
D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000434:Alcoholic Beverages; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D013375:Substance Withdrawal Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*
D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D000431:Ethanol