ArticleAlcoholism, clinical and experimental research2018
Reduction in Nonabstinent WHO Drinking Risk Levels and Change in Risk for Liver Disease and Positive AUDIT-C Scores: Prospective 3-Year Follow-Up Results in the U.S. General Population.
Article in Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
49 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Evidence based models of care for the treatment of alcohol use disorder in primary health care settings: a systematic review.BMC family practice · 2020Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of a digital therapeutic for alcohol dependence: A multicenter, open-label, randomized controlled trial.Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2025Trial
- Effectiveness of screening and ultra-brief intervention for hazardous drinking in primary care: pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2025Trial
- Wearable Intervention for Alcohol Use Risk and Sleep in Young Adults: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2025Trial
- Intermittent theta burst to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex promoted decreased alcohol consumption and improved outcomes in those with alcohol use disorder: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2025Trial
- HealthCall: A randomized trial assessing a smartphone enhancement of brief interventions to reduce heavy drinking in HIV care.Journal of substance abuse treatment · 2022Trial
- Stability of Drinking Reductions and Long-term Functioning Among Patients with Alcohol Use Disorder.Journal of general internal medicine · 2021Trial
- World Health Organization risk drinking level reductions are associated with improved functioning and are sustained among patients with mild, moderate and severe alcohol dependence in clinical trials in the United States and United Kingdom.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2020Trial
- Maintenance of World Health Organization Risk Drinking Level Reductions and Posttreatment Functioning Following a Large Alcohol Use Disorder Clinical Trial.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2019Trial
- Drinking Risk Level Reductions Associated with Improvements in Physical Health and Quality of Life Among Individuals with Alcohol Use Disorder.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2018Trial
- The Relationship Between Reductions in WHO Risk Drinking Levels During Treatment and Subsequent Healthcare Costs for the ACTIVE Workgroup.Journal of addiction medicineTrial
- Reductions in World Health Organization Risk Drinking Level Are Associated With Reductions in Alcohol Use Disorder Diagnosis and Criteria: Evidence From an Alcohol Pharmacotherapy Trial.Journal of addiction medicineTrial
- Early liver transplantation in alcohol-associated liver disease-Evolution of practice, patient selection, management, and outcomes.Liver transplantation : official publication of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the International Liver Transplantation Society · 2026Review
- Capturing meaningful change: Initiation and maintenance of reductions in World Health Organization risk drinking levels among mandated college students.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2026Article
- Skin picking disorder and hazardous alcohol use.CNS spectrums · 2025Article
- Reductions in World Health Organization Risk Drinking Levels as a Primary Efficacy End Point for Alcohol Clinical Trials: A Review.JAMA psychiatry · 2025Review
- The association between changes in AUDIT-C scores and acute mental healthcare utilization over the next year in a primary care population.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2025Article
- Association between change in alcohol use reported during routine healthcare screening and change in subsequent hospitalization: A retrospective cohort study.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2025Article
- Alcohol-associated liver disease: Natural history, management and novel targeted therapies.Clinical and molecular hepatology · 2025Review
- Diagnosis of Alcohol Use Disorder and Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease.Clinics in liver disease · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAbstinence is often the treatment aim for alcohol use disorders (AUD), but this may deter individuals who prefer drinking reduction goals from entering treatment, and be an overly restrictive end point in alcohol clinical trials. Nonabstinent drinking reductions that predict improvement in how individuals feel or function may be useful clinical trial outcomes, for example, reductions in the 4-category World Health Organization (WHO) drinking risk levels. To investigate the clinical relevance of these reductions, we examined their relationship with 2 outcomes of interest to medical providers: liver disease, and positive scores on an alcohol screening measure.
methodsCurrent drinkers in a U.S. national survey (n = 21,925) were interviewed in 2001 to 2002 (Wave 1) and re-interviewed 3 years later (Wave 2). WHO drinking risk levels, liver disease, and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption (AUDIT-C) were assessed at both waves. Adjusted odds ratios (aORs) were used to indicate the association of change in WHO drinking risk levels with Wave 2 liver disease and AUDIT-C scores.
resultsWave 1 very-high-risk drinkers who reduced 1, 2, or 3 WHO drinking risk levels had significantly lower odds of Wave 2 liver disease (aORs = 0.34, 0.23, 0.17) and positive AUDIT-C scores (aORs = 0.27, 0.09, 0.03). Wave 1 high-risk drinkers who reduced 1 or 2 WHO risk levels had significantly lower odds of positive AUDIT-C scores (aORs = 0.61, 0.25). Adjusting for alcohol dependence or AUDIT-C scoring variations did not affect results.
conclusionsIn the highest-risk drinkers, reductions in WHO drinking risk levels predicted lower likelihood of liver disease and positive AUDIT-C scores. Results add to findings that reductions in the 4-category WHO drinking risk levels are a meaningful indicator of how individuals feel and function, and could serve as nonabstinent end points in clinical trials. Results also connect the WHO risk drinking levels to commonly used alcohol screening questions, which may be more familiar to healthcare providers.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.