Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40085839›Full record

Trial reportJMIR human factors2025

Use of Wearable Transdermal Alcohol Sensors for Monitoring Alcohol Consumption After Detoxification With Contingency Management: Pilot Randomized Feasibility Trial.

Eileen Brobbin, Colin Drummond, Stephen Parkin, Paolo Deluca

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in JMIR human factors, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Eileen BrobbinKing's College London, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0001-8464-4847
Colin DrummondKing's College London, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0001-9379-5452
Stephen ParkinDepartment of Public Health, Environments and Society at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0003-1621-0945
Paolo DelucaKing's College London, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-9511-7230

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundWearable transdermal alcohol sensor (TAS) devices generate continuous data on alcohol consumption through the indiscernible sweat vapors on the skin. This continuous alcohol monitoring capability could provide a new method for alcohol services to monitor service users at various stages of their alcohol treatment.

objectiveWe aimed to assess the feasibility of using a TAS as part of alcohol treatment with alcohol service users using the device with or without contingency management (CM).

methodsA feasibility study was conducted of a convenience sample of 29 current service users from 3 South London alcohol services. Participants were randomized into either a control (treatment as usual) or CM group (treatment as usual+CM). We assessed the feasibility of enrollment, participation, device tampering and return, and device wearability and the accuracy of data capture. These data were reported descriptively where appropriate, the groups were compared, and alcohol self-report data were compared to the transdermal alcohol concentration to assess accuracy.

resultsA total of 34 individuals were approached, and 32 (94%) were enrolled and randomized (n=17, 53% to the control group and n=15, 47% to the CM group) over 5 months. In total, 3 participants withdrew (n=2, 67% from the control group and n=1, 33% from the CM group). There was a total of 203 meetings arranged (29 participants × 7 meetings), and 185 (91.1%) were attended. Only 1 of the 29 participants (3%) admitted to turning the TAS off to avoid monitoring. There were some issues with the TAS not functioning properly and not being able to be cleaned. Removals were recorded, but the definition of TAS removal may need to be improved for future trials. There was a high TAS return rate (28/29, 97% of the participants returned the TAS). Secondary outcomes suggest that the BACtrack Skyn remains an accurate tool to monitor alcohol consumption compared to self-report data and that it is acceptable to wearers over 2 weeks, with many participants (27/28, 96%) answering that they would wear it again and for longer but that the CM procedure could be made clearer.

conclusionsThe delivery of CM via a TAS was feasible in this study, but recommendations for a future larger trial include that the study design should be changed to provide an operationalized rather than manual method of checking whether TAS data meet CM criteria. This would reduce researcher burden and researcher and participant time. Current recruitment and research meeting design seem suitable for a future larger trial.

trial registrationInternational Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN) ISRCTN46845361; https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN46845361.

Indexed as

Alcohol DrinkingAlcoholismEthanolWearable Electronic DevicesAdultFeasibility StudiesFemaleHumansLondonMaleMiddle AgedPilot ProjectsEthanolalcoholalcohol dependencealcohol monitoringalcohol treatmentcontingency managementtransdermal alcohol sensortransdermal technologywearablewearable alcohol biosensor

Identifiers

PMID40085839
PMCPMC11953609

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.