According to a recent study, recovering alcoholics who opt to completely abstain from alcohol consumption have the best chance of sustaining their recovery, Newswise reported on Nov. 27. However, sustained recovery may be more difficult for young people, regardless of whether they remain abstinent or simply restrict their consumption. 

Deborah Dawson, PhD, a researcher with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and colleagues analyzed data on over 1,700 adults who were previously alcohol dependent, but in some form of recovery at the start of the study. 

Overall, the study found that people in recovery who were abstainers at the beginning of the study were least likely to relapse during the three years reviewed (2002-2005). Fifty-one percent of asymptomatic risk drinkers (people who did not have abuse or dependence symptoms, but who drank more than the recommended guidelines to avoid relapse) experienced a recurrence of alcohol dependence symptoms.

Among low-risk drinkers (drinking at levels lower than those thought to increase risk of relapse), 27 percent experienced relapse, compared with only 7.3 percent of abstainers.

But researchers discovered that abstaining worked best for those over 25.

"The biggest surprise was how little abstinence did to improve the prospects for younger alcoholics remaining in remission," noted Dawson. "To my knowledge, no one has looked at this age differential before."

The study was based on results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions and was published in the December edition of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.