Quality of life as an outcome measure in alcoholism treatment research

The present article reviews the literature to date dealing with quality of life (QoL) as it relates to drinking behavior, alcohol use disorders and treatment outcome.

Articles using the term "quality of life" to describe a status or outcome construct for individuals diagnosed with or being treated for alcohol use disorders or that used one or more instruments considered to reflect patients' QoL were identified primarily through Psychological Abstracts, MEDLINE and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism's ETOH archival database.

Thirty-six studies, published between 1993 and 2004, met these criteria. Twelve different QoL measures were used. Frequent heavy drinking or episodic heavy drinking (e.g., five or more drinks per occasion) patterns were associated with reduced QoL. Alcoholics had lower levels of QoL compared with general population norms or with other chronic health conditions. This relationship appears to be moderated by a number of sociodemographic and client characteristics, such as age, education, gender and co-occurring psychiatric disorders. Alcohol-dependent individuals experience improvements in QoL across treatment and with both short-term and long-term abstinence. Despite these improvements, many alcoholic individuals' QoL is unlikely to equal or exceed that of normative groups. Also, among hazardous and harmful drinkers, achieving and maintaining a marked reduction in drinking, even without complete abstinence, is associated with significant increases in QoL.

QoL represents an important area to consider in assessing individuals with alcohol use disorders and in evaluating alcoholism treatment outcome.