Open research questions in Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
2,285 gap statements mined from Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 18,566 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.
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What the literature leaves open
Future studies should incorporate longitudinal assessments of women's perceived health and validated measures of health-related quality of life, to better determine the clinical relevance of changes in alcohol consumption. Future research should aim to improve participant retention, integrate objective alcohol-use assessments, and test interventions in diverse settings to overcome these limitations.
Effectiveness of a nurse-led telephonic brief intervention to reduce risky alcohol use among women in primary care in Brazil: a randomized controlled trial · 2026 · DOIThere is little research on cyclic relations between alcohol-induced craving and drinking behavior. The study identifies a gap in research on temporal dynamics between drink-induced craving and continued drinking. Prior work has not fully investigated the mechanisms underlying the relationship between early-episode craving and subsequent drinking.
Mechanisms explaining links between early-episode alcohol craving and subsequent drinking during naturally occurring drinking episodes · 2026 · DOIThere is a lack of understanding of the role of social context in fentanyl seeking. Prior work has focused on cocaine seeking, with limited research on fentanyl seeking. The study aims to address this gap by examining the role of peer presence in fentanyl seeking.
Social context in renewal of cocaine and fentanyl seeking: role of peer presence versus peer absence · 2026 · DOIThe study highlights the need to explore interactions with cannabis use disorder symptoms among youth.
The effect of cannabis use on the time course of positive and negative affect in the daily life of youth · 2026 · DOIOne challenge is the high rate of relapse in patients with cocaine use disorder. Another challenge is the need to identify predictors of relapse in this population. The study also faced challenges in terms of patient retention and follow-up.
Does the cognitive test MoCA at entry of an inpatient cocaine cessation predict relapse? a prospective observational study · 2026 · DOIThere is a need to identify predictors of relapse in patients with cocaine use disorder. The MoCA test has not been previously used to predict relapse in this population.
Does the cognitive test MoCA at entry of an inpatient cocaine cessation predict relapse? a prospective observational study · 2026 · DOIFurther studies are needed to confirm the findings and to explore the potential mechanisms by which spironolactone affects AUD remission and alcohol intoxication. Research on the effects of spironolactone on AUD in different populations, such as those with comorbidities or those who have not responded to other treatments, is needed.
Spironolactone and clinical outcomes in patients with alcohol use disorder and comorbid hypertension: a target trial emulation study · 2026 · DOIThere is a lack of approved pharmacotherapies for AUD. Prior studies have implicated the MR/aldosterone system in AUD, but there is limited evidence on the effectiveness of MR antagonists like spironolactone in treating AUD.
Spironolactone and clinical outcomes in patients with alcohol use disorder and comorbid hypertension: a target trial emulation study · 2026 · DOIThe lack of differentiation between regular and problematic patterns of cannabis use in previous studies. The inconsistent findings using behavioural tasks. The need for further diagnostic stratification, multimodal imaging, and ecologically valid methods in future research.
No differences in inhibitory control or prefrontal activation during a cannabis cue stop-signal task across CUDIT-R-defined CUD-risk groups · 2026 · DOIThe study highlights the need for targeted interventions and improved surveillance of evolving use patterns and comorbidities. The study notes the challenge of analyzing the complex relationships between socioeconomic factors and disease burden.
Less is known about how social and environmental contexts relate to recognizing one's own drinking as problematic. There is a need to explore how adults in recovery from AUD describe socioenvironmental influences on the normalization, sustained use, and recognition of problematic alcohol use.
“As long as you can make it to work the next day”: normalized drinking and problem recognition among individuals in recovery from alcohol use disorder · 2026 · DOIThe need for secure data-processing conditions in real-time interaction. The importance of participant safety and well-being in immersive VR environments.
Virtual Reality Therapy Assistants for Adjunctive Cue Exposure Training in the Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder (VITAACue-AUD): Protocol for a Technical Feasibility Study · 2026 · DOIThere is a need for effective interventions to reduce excessive drinking among adolescents and young adults. mHealth interventions can be a useful means to address this issue, but their effectiveness needs to be evaluated.
Effects, Acceptability, and Use of a Dynamically Tailored Mobile What Do You Drink Intervention to Reduce Excessive Drinking Among Adolescents and Young Adults in the Netherlands: Randomized Controlled Trial · 2026 · DOIPrior studies have not integrated wearable-derived biosignals with psychological vulnerabilities to predict high-risk drinking episodes. There is a need for targeted public-health strategies to address the rising rates of alcohol use and high-risk drinking among young adults.
Week-Ahead Prediction of High-Risk Drinking Episodes Among Young Adults Using Wearable Biosignals and Psychological Vulnerabilities: Prospective Observational Machine Learning Study · 2026 · DOIThe data collection occurred during the public health emergency of COVID-19, which may have influenced participant recruitment, data-collection procedures, and participants' behaviors and responses, and thereby potentially impacted the study findings and their interpretation. A threshold for clinically meaningful change was not predefined, which limits conclusions regarding the clinical significance of these changes.
Effectiveness of a nurse-led telephonic brief intervention to reduce risky alcohol use among women in primary care in Brazil: a randomized controlled trial · 2026 · DOIThe results should be interpreted cautiously due to the limited power of the study. The study was not powered to distinguish whether rs4654327 predicts naltrexone-specific pharmacodynamic response or more general relapse risk independent of treatment.
OPRD1 rs4654327 and Outcomes of Extended-Release Naltrexone in Alcohol Use Disorder: An Exploratory Prospective Pharmacogenetic Study · 2026 · DOIInvestigate the role of subjective reinforcement in the relationship of craving and alcohol use in different populations, - Examine the cyclic links between craving and drinking behavior during naturally occurring drinking episodes in other…
Mechanisms explaining links between early-episode alcohol craving and subsequent drinking during naturally occurring drinking episodes · 2026 · DOIUse a BBA renewal paradigm in which acquisition and extinction occur without a peer and renewal testing occurs with a peer - Determine the role of dissociable neurobehavioral mechanisms of action in the differential ability of cocaine and fentanyl to support BAB renewal - Investigate the effect of naltrexone on demand for fentanyl in human…
Social context in renewal of cocaine and fentanyl seeking: role of peer presence versus peer absence · 2026 · DOISmall sample size, - Limited to youth aged 15 to 24 years, - Exclusion criteria were cannabis treatment in the past 30 days, currently mandated treatment, - The study was a secondary analysis of pre-treatment EMA…
The effect of cannabis use on the time course of positive and negative affect in the daily life of youth · 2026 · DOIThe study was not powered for the rare G/G genotype, - Most genotype-outcome associations did not remain statistically significant after correction for multiple comparisons, - The study lacks a non-treated comparison arm, - The sample size was limited to 100…
OPRD1 rs4654327 and Outcomes of Extended-Release Naltrexone in Alcohol Use Disorder: An Exploratory Prospective Pharmacogenetic Study · 2026 · DOIClinical evidence supporting an effect of semaglutide on AUD remains limited - Most data derive from animal studies - The heterogeneity and early-stage nature of the available clinical…
Public access to detailed data from World Drug Reports prior to 2018 is restricted, - The study only includes substance use disorders as a broad category, lacking in-depth analyses specific to CUD, - The GBD 2021 study has limitations in terms of data quality…
Future research may consider interviewing individuals who continue to actively use and are not in treatment to better understand how alcohol-related problems are interpreted or recognized prior to engagement in recovery-oriented spaces - Future research may examine whether similar patterns of AUD development and recognition emerge utilizing larger and more diverse samples that also capture different stages…
“As long as you can make it to work the next day”: normalized drinking and problem recognition among individuals in recovery from alcohol use disorder · 2026 · DOIHeterogeneity between studies - Limited data availability for certain outcomes - Sensitivity to prior specification in models with limited data - Publication bias assessment challenges due to limited number…
Subjective alcohol response across drinking contexts: a systematic review with bayesian meta-analysis · 2026 · DOIThe study did not include all studies with non-commercial laboratory settings, - Identifying all studies with non-commercial laboratory settings to synthesize mean SR estimates was not feasible, - Some estimates based on limited study data showed sensitivity to prior specification, - Funnel plot inspections were not possible for some analyses due to fewer than 10 studies, - The study's findings may be limited…
Subjective alcohol response across drinking contexts: a systematic review with bayesian meta-analysis · 2026 · DOI
Most-cited papers in Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Comorbidity of Mental Disorders With Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse · JAMA · 1990 · 7,844 citations
- In search of how people change: Applications to addictive behaviors. · American Psychologist · 1992 · 5,946 citations
- Comorbidity of mental disorders with alcohol and other drug abuse. Results from the Epidemiologic Catchment Area (ECA) Study · JAMA · 1990 · 5,777 citations
- Detecting Alcoholism · JAMA · 1984 · 5,631 citations
- The AUDIT Alcohol Consumption Questions (AUDIT-C)<subtitle>An Effective Brief Screening Test for Problem Drinking</subtitle> · Archives of Internal Medicine · 1998 · 5,472 citations
- Detecting alcoholism. The CAGE questionnaire · JAMA · 1984 · 3,984 citations
- Snowball Sampling: Problems and Techniques of Chain Referral Sampling · Sociological Methods & Research · 1981 · 3,778 citations
- Risk and protective factors for alcohol and other drug problems in adolescence and early adulthood: Implications for substance abuse prevention. · Psychological Bulletin · 1992 · 3,642 citations
- The fifth edition of the addiction severity index · Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment · 1992 · 3,476 citations
- Integrating Person‐Centered and Variable‐Centered Analyses: Growth Mixture Modeling With Latent Trajectory Classes · Alcoholism Clinical and Experimental Research · 2000 · 2,558 citations
Most recent work
- Cognitive bias modification in alcohol use disorder and problematic drinking: A revised and updated IPD Bayesian meta-analysis · Clinical Psychology Review · 2026
- Illicit Drug and Opioid Use Disorders among Non-Metropolitan Residents · UKnowledge (University of Kentucky) · 2026
- Stigma from healthcare professionals and care-limiting behaviors in individuals with substance use disorders: a mixed-methods study · The Lancet Regional Health - Europe · 2026
- Evidence-based consensus guidelines for the pharmacological management of substance dependence: Recommendations from the British Association for Psychopharmacology · Journal of Psychopharmacology · 2026
- Alcohol Use Trajectories During the First 72 Weeks of WHOOP Wearable Platform Membership: Observational Cohort Study · JMIR mhealth and uhealth · 2026
- State Cannabis and Alcohol Policy Environments: Associations With College Students’ Use of Cannabis, Alcohol, and Both Substances · American Journal of Preventive Medicine · 2026
- On the need and contents of a specific addiction recovery research agenda · Addiction · 2026
- Higher drinking frequency corresponds to lower synaptic density in people with alcohol use disorder · Journal of Clinical Investigation · 2026
- Polysubstance use disorders among US adults · Molecular Psychiatry · 2026
- Psychological and Psychosocial Interventions for People With Schizophrenia and Co-Occurring Substance Use Disorders · JAMA Psychiatry · 2026
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