Physical exercise in the treatment of alcohol use disorder (AUD) patients affects their drinking habits: A randomized controlled trial.

AIM: The aim of this study is to compare the effect of exercise training on physical capacity and alcohol consumption in alcohol use disorder (AUD) patients.

METHODS: One hundred and five AUD patients were randomly assigned to treatment as usual combined with running and brisk walking for 30-45 min twice a week, either in small supervised groups (GR) or individually (IND), or to a control group with no running (C). Assessments were made after 6 and 12 months of training.

RESULTS: Training volume was estimated as 36 min per training bout at an intensity of 78% of HRmax with no differences between GR and IND ( p>.05). A highly significant reduction in training frequency was seen in both training groups after the first month ( p<.0001). Only IND increased VO2max , by 5.7% ( p<.05), while no differences were seen between GR, IND and C. Alcohol intake decreased from 219 to 41 units per 30 days as the average for the entire sample with no significant difference of drinking outcomes between groups ( p<.0001).

CONCLUSIONS: We saw an effect on drinking habits after running in both groups. However, no additional effect was seen when compared with the control group. A drop in the training frequency during the intervention might have resulted in an insignificant training stimulus.