Short-term heavy alcohol consumption can have the opposite effect on the cytochrome P450 system, that is, inhibition of hepatic drug metabolism. Older adults are particularly at-risk for sedation and psychomotor effects of benzodiazepines and narcotics and this effect may be intensified among those who drink heavy amounts episodically. Depending on the usual drinking habits of the individual, the amount of alcohol placing an individual at risk could be as low as 2 or 3 drinks on an occasion. Our results highlight the need for physicians to discuss with patients, particularly those who are elderly, the potential risks of combining alcohol with AI prescription medications. A recent report (McKnight-Eily et al. 2014) found that only 15.7% of US adults had ever discussed alcohol use with a health professional; among current drinkers the prevalence was 17.4%. The sample size in adjusted analyses is 26,182 due to missing data on covariates for 475 participants.
Immediate effects of a brief intervention to prevent alcohol and medication interactions among older adults
- Frederick Goodwin, M.D., NIMH scientific director and chief of intramural research, also contributed.
- Relevant articles were identified through a search of MEDLINE (1966-August 2006) for articles on alcohol medication interactions, diseases worsened by alcohol use, alcohol metabolism, absorption and distribution.
- Critical approaches to this effort require molecular, cellular, and genetic studies to delineate the pathophysiologic mechanisms that lead to disrupted neuronal function and to identify potential targets for therapeutic intervention.
- Women also appear to be at a greater risk than men for alcohol-related cardiovascular diseases, liver disease, alcohol use disorder, and other consequences.
- In turn, enhanced CYP2E1 activity increases the formation of the toxic acetaminophen product.
A yearlong program of events launched with the inaugural scientific symposium, “The Evolution of Mental Health Research.” Over the anniversary year, NIMH sponsored numerous activities, including symposiums, lectures, and sessions at scientific meetings. NIMH also shared stories of discovery and inspiration from its past, present, and future. 2019—On March 19, the FDA approved the medication brexanolone as the first successful treatment for severe postpartum depression. In the 1980s and 1990s, NIMH intramural researcher Steven Paul, M.D., showed that the neurosteroid allopregnanolone promoted anesthesia during pregnancy by stimulating the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA. Subsequent research demonstrated that brexanolone, an intravenous form of allopregnanolone, treated postpartum depression by continuing the stimulation of GABA into the postpartum period. 2013—On September 20, Thomas C. Südhof, M.D., and Richard H. Scheller, Ph.D., received the Lasker Basic Medical Research Award.
The finding highlights the need to talk with a health care professional about the risks of drinking alcohol while taking prescription medications. The order also called for developing a National Research Action Plan with strategies to improve the diagnosis and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health conditions. NIMH led NIH’s participation in the action plan, which made significant progress in establishing common data elements to guide research on traumatic stress and suicide risk prevention and developing scalable interventions for PTSD and suicide prevention.
With some medications (e.g., barbiturates and sedative medications called benzodiazepines), alcohol acts on the same molecules inside or on the surface of the cell as does the medication. These interactions may be synergistic—that is, the effects of the combined medications exceed the sum of the effects of the individual medications. With other medications (e.g., antihistamines and antidepressants) alcohol enhances the sedative effects of those medications but acts through different mechanisms from those agents. In addition to CYP2E1, at least two other cytochrome enzymes that metabolize various medications (i.e., CYP3A4 and CYP1A2) also can break down alcohol (Salmela et al. 1998).
Table 5.

Explore key milestones, discoveries, and the impact of NIMH-funded studies on mental health. Use these free digital, outreach materials in your community and on social media to spread the word about mental health. Use these free education and outreach materials in your community and on social media to spread the word about mental health and related topics. NIMH statistics pages include statistics on the prevalence, treatment, and costs of mental illness for the population of the United States.
NIDA is a biomedical research organization and does not provide personalized medical advice, treatment, counseling, or legal consultation. Information provided by NIDA is not a substitute for professional medical care or legal consultation. We invite healthcare professionals to complete a post-test to earn FREE continuing education credit (CME/CE or ABIM MOC). This continuing education opportunity is jointly provided by the Postgraduate Institute for Medicine and NIAAA. More resources for a variety of healthcare professionals can be found in the Additional Links for Patient Care. The authors would like to acknowledge the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI), for whom the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) manages the National Pharmacy Internship Programme (NPIP).
- The remaining alcohol enters the general (i.e., systemic) circulation and eventually is transported back to the liver and metabolized there.
- Thus, the number of potential respondents was 1947, of whom 1395 returned the questionnaire.
- The most recent NIMH Strategic Plan for Research, published in 2020, builds on the successes of previous NIMH Strategic Plans, provides a framework for research to leverage new opportunities for scientific exploration, and addresses new challenges in mental health.
Do medications for opioid use disorder work?
Differences in alcohol distribution patterns also affect the BALs achieved with a given alcohol dose (Thomasson 1995). Thus, women, whose lower body water creates a smaller fluid volume in which the alcohol is distributed, tend to achieve higher BALs than do men after consuming the same amount of alcohol. The normal loss of lean body weight and increase in body fat that occurs with aging has a similar effect on BALs. The potentially higher BALs can exaggerate alcohol-medication interactions in both women and older people. Aside from this effect of gender and age on BALs, researchers have not reported any other major gender- or age-related differences in susceptibility to alcohol-medication interactions.
Intereference with the effectiveness of medications
Findings from RAISE also showed that treatment was most effective for people who received care soon after psychosis symptoms began. Based on RAISE results, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (link is external)(link is external) (CMS) posted an informational bulletin (link is external)(link is external) for state Medicaid directors about covering CSC as an evidence-based treatment for first episode psychosis. RAISE contributed to a new way to organize and deliver treatment and produced findings that changed the standard of practice for early schizophrenia treatment in the United States.
Where can people get buprenorphine?
2021—In December, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, M.D., issued The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on Protecting Youth Mental Health. The advisory, developed with input from NIMH and other federal agencies, recognized mental health as an essential part of overall health and acknowledged the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth mental health. The advisory included recommendations to increase timely data collection and research to identify and respond to youth mental health needs.
Associated Data
The institute established centers for research, training, and services covering topics such as schizophrenia, substance use, suicide prevention, crime, and child and family mental health. The National Center for Prevention and Control of Alcoholism was also established due to emerging public recognition of alcoholism as a disease. This absorption happens slowly from the stomach but rapidly from the upper small intestine. Aging prolongs gastric emptying 20 but this does not appear to affect the absorption of most drugs 21 After the alcohol is absorbed, it is transported to the liver through the portal vein and part of the alcohol is metabolized during this initial passage through the liver. The rest of the alcohol leaves the liver, enters the systemic circulation and is distributed throughout the body. The metabolism of alcohol or any other substance that takes place in the gastrointestinal tract and during the initial passage through the liver is called “first-pass metabolism”.
Of particular importance are pharmacy-based interventions that target residents of rural communities, as AMI-related hospitalizations are increasing more rapidly among older adults living in rural areas 12. Another result of enzyme induction by chronic heavy drinkers is the increased production of toxic metabolites to the liver during the metabolism of drugs like isoniazid, phenylbutazone and acetaminophen. As many older adults take medications other than these that may have hepatotoxic effects (e.g., statins), those who drink 3 or more drinks per day may have increased risk for liver toxicity. These medications are sedative or many at risk for alcohol-medication interactions national institutes of health nih sleep-inducing (i.e., hypnotic) agents that are frequently used for anesthesia.
We used the NHANES Multum Lexicon nested 3-level therapeutic classification system to categorize AI prescription medications which resulted in NSAIDs being categorized as CNS agents; future studies may wish to consider other systems. Our sample size, though large, was not sufficient to consider individual medications within therapeutic classes which might interact differently with alcohol or with specific alcoholic beverages. About 9% of MEC participants were excluded from our analytic sample due to missing data on alcohol or prescription medications (Online Supplemental Table 5) so the sample may not be fully representative of the US population. However, the characteristics on which the excluded participants differed from those included in the study were controlled for in statistical models.
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