SynthesisInternational journal of environmental research and public health2023
Efficacy of Varenicline in the Treatment of Alcohol Dependence: An Updated Meta-Analysis and Meta-Regression.
Synthesis in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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
9 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- High- and low-dose topiramate for the treatment of persons with alcohol use disorder who smoke cigarettes: A randomized control trial.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2025Trial
- Combination Treatment With Varenicline and Nicotine Patch on Smoking Cessation Outcomes in Heavy Drinkers at 26-Week Follow-up.Journal of clinical psychopharmacologyTrial
- Towards Mechanism-Informed Treatments for Mental Health.Journal of neurochemistry · 2026Review
- Pharmacotherapy for Alcohol Craving Reduction: Efficacy of Short-Term Treatments in Alcohol Use Disorder.Medicines (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Effect of varenicline on major adverse liver outcomes in alcohol-associated liver disease: An exploratory analysis.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2025Article
- Investigating Therapeutic Targets for Alcohol Use Disorder: Pharmacological View of ClinicalTrials.gov Data.International journal of general medicine · 2025Review
- The Neurocircuitry of Substance Use Disorder, Treatment, and Change: A Resource for Clinical Psychiatrists.The American journal of psychiatry · 2024Review
- Evidence of subgroup differences in meta-analyses evaluating medications for alcohol use disorder: An umbrella review.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2024Review
- Trends in Newly Filled GLP-1 Receptor Agonist Prescriptions for US Patients With Versus Without Comorbid Alcohol Use Disorder, 2016-2024.Journal of addiction medicineArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlthough varenicline has been used for alcohol dependence (AD) treatment, its efficacy for this condition remains controversial.
aimsThis systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assesses the efficacy and safety of varenicline in patients with AD.
methodsPubMed, Cochrane Library, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, and ThaiLis were systematically searched. RCTs investigating the efficacy and safety of varenicline in patients with AD were included. Study selection, data extraction, and quality assessment were independently performed by two authors. The Jadad score and Cochrane risk of bias were used to assess the quality of the included studies. Heterogeneity was assessed using I
resultsTwenty-two high-quality RCTs on 1421 participants were included. Varenicline significantly reduced alcohol-related outcomes compared with placebo based on percentage of abstinent days (standardized mean difference [SMD] 4.20 days; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.21, 8.19;
conclusionOur results indicated that AD patients treated with varenicline showed improvement in percentage of very heavy drinking days, percentage of abstinent days, drinks per day, drinks per drinking day, and craving. However, well-designed RCTs with a large sample size and long duration on varenicline treatment in AD remain warranted to confirm our findings.
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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.