Efficacy of Self-Administered Intranasal Oxytocin on Alcohol Use and Craving After Detoxification in Patients With Alcohol Dependence. A Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Trial

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Oxytocin in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 38 patients were involved.

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

Primary outcome was alcohol intake specified as the amount of alcohol consumed, the number of days to relapse into alcohol use and the proportion of subjects relapsing.

Secondary outcomes were self-reported symptoms of craving, sleep and mental distress.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

The patients were allocated by chance, so the Oxytocin group and the comparison group should start out alike.

As a double-blind Oxytocin study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Oxytocin could be set against what happens without it.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Alcoholism, Craving, Oxytocics, Oxytocin and Self Care.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Oxytocin in 38 patients.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

Its findings take up roughly 4 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2021 (Alcohol and alcoholism (Oxford, Oxfordshire)), a journal based in England.

More context: the Oxytocin compound page, all human trials.