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This page is an AI-assisted Turkish summary of the study presented at the 26th World Congress of Psychiatry. The study belongs to the presenting authors; please refer to the original source when citing it.

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The COMB study of varenicline and bupropion in alcohol use disorder: Effects of and on WHO drinking risk levels, sex, and nicotine use

THE COMB-STUDY ON VARENICLINE AND BUPROPION FOR ALCOHOL USE DISORDER: EFFECTS OF/ON WHO DRINKING RISK LEVELS, SEX AND NICOTINE USE.

The combined use of two dopamine-enhancing medications, varenicline and bupropion, reduces alcohol consumption in patients with alcohol use disorder and is proposed as a new effective treatment option.

The study aimed to evaluate whether the combination of varenicline and bupropion, which have complementary effects on the dopamine (DA) system, could offer a new treatment strategy for alcohol use disorder (AUD). A total of 384 participants received varenicline 1 mg twice daily and/or bupropion 150 mg twice daily over a one-week titration period followed by 12 weeks of steady-state treatment; the co-primary outcomes were the self-reported percentage of heavy drinking days (%HDD) and the objective alcohol biomarker blood phosphatidylethanol (B-PEth). Data were evaluated using averages over the steady-state period, with a modified intention-to-treat (mITT) analysis and a per-protocol (PP) analysis for study completers. Varenicline plus bupropion significantly reduced B-PEth and %HDD compared with placebo in both the mITT and PP populations. Compared with varenicline alone, the combination significantly reduced the frequency and duration of nausea. Sex, family history, and nicotine use did not modify the effects, with no differences observed particularly for the B-PEth outcome; WHO drinking risk levels were also reported not to determine the treatment effect. Among treatment-adherent (PP) participants receiving varenicline plus bupropion, 41% achieved a reduction of at least two WHO drinking risk levels or reached a low drinking risk level (LDRL); the poster figure reported this proportion as 40.6% for Var+Bup, 32.4% for Var+Pla, 31.7% for Pla+Bup, and 23.2% for Pla+Pla. The findings suggest that the combination has an additive effect and may offer a new option for treating AUD.

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