Cue-elicited heart rate variability and attentional bias predict alcohol relapse following treatment.
BACKGROUND
Identification of malleable neurocognitive predictors of relapse among alcohol-dependent individuals is important for the optimization of health care delivery and clinical services.


OBJECTIVE
Given that alcohol cue-reactivity can predict relapse, we evaluated cue-elicited high-frequency heart rate variability (HFHRV) and alcohol attentional bias (AB) as potential relapse risk indices.


METHODS
Alcohol-dependent patients in long-term residential treatment who had participated in mindfulness-oriented therapy or an addiction support group completed a spatial cueing task as a measure of alcohol AB and an affect-modulated alcohol cue-reactivity protocol while HFHRV was assessed.


RESULTS
Post-treatment HFHRV cue-reactivity and alcohol AB significantly predicted the occurrence and timing of relapse by 6-month follow-up, independent of treatment condition and after controlling for alcohol dependence severity. Alcohol-dependent patients who relapsed exhibited a significantly greater HFHRV reactivity to stress-primed alcohol cues than patients who did not relapse.


CONCLUSIONS
Cue-elicited HFHRV and alcohol AB can presage relapse and may therefore hold promise as prognostic indicators in clinical settings.
College of Social Work, Trinity Institute for the Addictions, Florida State University, University Center, Building C, Tallahassee, FL 32306-2570, USA. egarland@fsu.edu
Eric L
EL
Garland
Ingmar H A
IH
Franken
Matthew O
MO
Howard
D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D001288:Attention; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012008:Recurrence; D012657:Self-Help Groups; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome