A Systematic Review of Naltrexone for women with Alcohol Use Disorders

Approximately 20% of U.S. women have hazardous alcohol consumption levels. Research has shown prescription Naltrexone to be effective in reducing drinking and some studies suggest gender differences in effectiveness. This research seeks to evaluate existing evidence regarding the use of Naltrexone in reducing hazardous drinking among women. A systematic review of clinical trials was conducted (2004 - 2014) using an extensive database search. Search terms, identified a priori included: Naltrexone, alcohol and women. Primary reported drinking outcomes were percent days abstinent, percent drinking days, percent heavy drinking day, and time to first heavy drinking day. Independent raters (n=3) rated study quality using the Downs and Black scale (DBS). For further evaluation, we chose nine studies from 2,631 clinical trials: seven double blind, a single blind, and one factorial design RCT . From the final studies, sample sizes ranged from 100 to 1,383 participants and women accounted for 41% of the total sample. Naltrexone was shown (n=3) to increase percent days abstinent, (n=2) decrease percent drinking days, and (n=2) reduce the risk of heavy drinking in women. DBS evaluation revealed methodological weakness scores across all papers. Final DBS scores ranged from 7.6-26 (M: 18.7, SD: 5.19) and (n=5) ranked above 20 (70% quality cut point) on evaluation. Although, study procedures and measures were diverse, data extracted supports the efficacy of Naltrexone in women. Completion of a future meta-analytic review may provide more information regarding the overall efficacy of naltrexone in women to inform future interventions and policy.