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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Baclofen for Alcohol Use Disorder

About this resource:

Systematic Review

Source: The Cochrane Collaborative

Last Reviewed: November 2018

Workgroups: Substance Use Workgroup

In this Cochrane systematic review, the Cochrane Collaborative found that, compared with placebo, baclofen has little to no effect in treating alcohol use disorder. Researchers found that baclofen makes little to no difference to study participants who dropped out of treatment, dropped out because of side effects, or had at least 1 side effect. They found that it probably makes little difference in the number of participants who start drinking again or in how much or how often they drink. Researchers also found that baclofen increased bad outcomes like depression, vertigo, sleepiness, numbness, and muscle stiffness.

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Objectives related to this resource (1)

Reduce the proportion of people who had alcohol use disorder in the past year — SU‑13
Little or no detectable change

Suggested Citation

1.

Minozzi. S, Saulle, R. & Rösner, S. (2018) Baclofen for alcohol use disorder. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2018 (11). DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD012557.pub2.