The current US Food and Drug Administration guidance to use heavy drinking as indicative of treatment “failure” does not take into account substantial psychosocial improvements made by individuals who continue to occasionally drink heavily post-treatment, according to a recent study. Researchers conducted latent profile analyses of data from 2 of the largest alcohol clinical trials in the US, Combined Pharmacotherapies and Behavioral Interventions (COMBINE) and Matching Alcoholism Treatments to Client Heterogeneity (Project MATCH). There were 962 individuals in COMBINE (69% male, 77% white, mean age 44 years) and 1,528 in Project MATCH (75% male, 80% white, mean age 40 years). They found:

• Latent profile analysis of measures of functioning in both samples supported a 3-profile solution for the group of treatment “failures,” characterized by high-, average- and low-functioning individuals.

• The high-functioning treatment “failures” generally performed better across measures of psychosocial functioning at follow-up than participants designated treatment “successes” by virtue of being abstainers or light drinkers.

Citation: Wilson AD, Bravo AJ, Pearson MR, Witkiewitz K. Finding success in failure: Using latent profile analysis to examine heterogeneity in psychosocial functioning among heavy drinkers following treatment. [Published online ahead of print August 24, 2016]. Addiction. doi:10.1111/add.13518.