Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39815925›Full record

Trial reportAddiction (Abingdon, England)2025

The effectiveness of a drink-counting and a breathalyser-coupled smartphone application for reduced heavy drinking among alcohol-dependent adults in Sweden: A randomised controlled trial.

Josefine Östh, Andreas Lundin, Peter Wennberg, Sven Andréasson, Anna-Karin Danielsson

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Addiction (Abingdon, England), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Trial
  2. Trial
  3. Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Josefine ÖsthDepartment of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7512-804X
Andreas LundinDepartment of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Peter WennbergDepartment of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Sven AndréassonDepartment of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Anna-Karin DanielssonDepartment of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4932-4607

Funding

The Swedish Alcohol Retail Monopoly Research CouncilThe Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare 2016-07108The Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare 2016-07113
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND

aimsStudies using smartphone apps in treatment for alcohol dependence are lacking. This study aimed to test the consumption-reducing effects of using two app-based alcohol interventions as complement to treatment as usual (TAU).

designThree-armed, parallel, randomised controlled trial.

settingSpecialised outpatient clinic within the Stockholm Centre for Dependency Disorders, Stockholm, Sweden.

participants162 alcohol-dependent adults (46% female), with no social problems or mental disorders, who had no other drug use, were included. Mean age was 50 years, and the majority were highly educated, employed and had not previously received any alcohol treatment.

interventionsParticipants were randomised to (1) TAU+drink-counting app (Glasklart, n = 52), (2) TAU+app-coupled breathalyser (iBAC Pro, n = 58) or (3) TAU only (n = 52). TAU included four sessions of clinician-led psychological treatment based on motivational interviewing/cognitive behavioural therapy, combined with pharmacotherapy when requested, for 12 weeks. MEASUREMENTS: The primary outcome was past 4-week heavy drinking days (HDD) at 26 weeks post-randomisation, adjusted for baseline HDD, and assessed by structured interviews using Timeline Followback. Secondary outcomes included weekly consumption, consumption patterns, phosphatidylethanol and dependence at 12 and 26 weeks. Analyses compared TAU+drink-counting app and TAU+breathalyser each with TAU alone.

findingsAt 26 weeks, participants with TAU+breathalyser had statistically significantly lower HDD [incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 0.67, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.49, 0.91] compared with those with TAU alone. There was no evidence of any effects on HDD for those with TAU+drink-counting app, compared with TAU alone (IRR = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.70, 1.25) or of any other effects.

conclusionsIn Sweden, treatment as usual (TAU) for alcohol dependence combined with a smartphone application coupled with a breathalyser was more effective than TAU alone in reducing self-reported heavy drinking. There was no evidence that TAU combined with a smartphone application for drink-counting was more effective than TAU alone.

Indexed as

Alcohol DrinkingAlcoholismCognitive Behavioral TherapyMobile ApplicationsSmartphoneAdultBreath TestsFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedMotivational InterviewingSwedenTreatment Outcomealcohol dependencealcohol drinkingalcohol treatmentdigital technologymobile applicationsrandomised controlled trialsmartphonetelemedicine

Identifiers

PMID39815925
PMCPMC11986279

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.