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Biomedical subjects

L J West

Publications and source records attributed to L J West.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1984

Alcoholism.

After heart disease and cancer, alcoholism is America's third largest health problem; it affects 10 million people, costs $ 60 billion, and is implicated in 200 000 deaths annually. Alcohol is involved in 50% of deaths by motor vehicle and fire, 67% of murders, and 33% of suicides. It contributes to morbidity in certain malignancies and to many diseases of the endocrine, cardiovascular, hematopoietic, gastrointestinal, and nervous systems. The fetal alcohol syndrome occurs in a third of the infants born to women who drink more than 150 g of ethanol daily during pregnancy; another third of the infants become mentally retarded. The prevalence of alcoholism is lower in elderly than in middle-aged persons, but detection is difficult and vulnerability to harm is great in the elderly, due to both pharmacokinetic factors and increased tissue sensitivity. Alcohol and aging are additive in their harmful effects. Although modern medical treatment is helpful, alcoholics are frequently misdiagnosed and mismanaged by health professionals. Total abstinence from alcohol should be a primary goal of treatment.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1982

Controlled drinking by alcoholics? New findings and a reevaluation of a major affirmative study.

Controlled drinking has recently become a controversial alternative to abstinence as an appropriate treatment goal for alcoholics. In this study we reexamine the evidence underlying a widely cited report by Sobell and Sobell of successful controlled drinking by a substantial proportion of gamma (physically dependent) alcoholic subjects in a behavior therapy experiment. A review of the evidence, including official records and new interviews, reveals that most subjects trained to do controlled drinking failed from the outset to drink safely. The majority were rehospitalized for alcoholism treatment within a year after their discharge from the research project. A 10-year follow-up (extended through 1981) of the original 20 experimental subjects shows that only one, who apparently had not experienced physical withdrawal symptoms, maintained a pattern of controlled drinking; eight continued to drink excessively--regularly or intermittently--despite repeated damaging consequences; six abandoned their efforts to engage in controlled drinking and became abstinent; four died from alcohol-related causes; and one, certified about a year after discharge from the research project as gravely disabled because of drinking, was missing.

Alcohol Drinking↗