Use of pharmacotherapy for alcohol use disorder in Manitoba, Canada: A whole-population cohort study

Update the evidence on use of pharmacotherapy for alcohol use disorder in a Canadian population.

Using whole-population administrative data from Manitoba, Canada, we identified all residents age 12+ who were first diagnosed with alcohol use disorder between April 1, 1996 and March 31, 2015, and compared characteristics of those who filled a prescription for naltrexone, acamprosate or disulfiram at least once during that period to those who did not fill a prescription for an alcohol use disorder medication.

Only 1.3% of individuals with alcohol use disorder received pharmacotherapy (62.3% of prescriptions were for naltrexone, 39.4% for acamprosate, 7.5% for disulfiram). Most prescriptions came from family physicians in urban alcohol use disorder (53.6%) and psychiatrists (22.3%). Individuals were more likely to fill a prescription for alcohol use disorder medication if they lived in an urban vs rural environment (OR 2.25; 95% CI 1.83-2.77) or had a mood/anxiety disorder diagnosis vs no diagnosis (OR 2.40, 95% CI 1.98-2.90) in the five years before being diagnosed with alcohol use disorder.

Despite established evidence for the effectiveness of pharmacotherapy for alcohol use disorder, these medications continue to be profoundly underutilized in Canada.