Background: This is the first attempt to assess changes in liver abnormalities before and after contingency management (CM) to reduce heavy drinking beyond 30-days of follow-up. Objective: The main objective was to determine whether liver fibrosis and steatosis, measured using FibroScan, change significantly between baseline, 30-days, and 90-days among older adults who drink heavily at baseline, enrolled in the CM intervention for alcohol reduction. The secondary aim of the study was to assess whether the changes in liver outcome measures differ across alcohol consumption categories. Methods: A prospective study (ClinicalTrials.gov registry: NCT03353701) of 46 older adults (63% male, 76.1% Black, mean age = 56.4) with heavy drinking at the baseline, living with or without HIV infection was evaluated. A linear mixed-effects model was used to analyze the FibroScan Transient Elastography (TE for fibrosis) and Controlled Attenuation Parameter (CAP for steatosis). Results: There were no significant changes in liver fibrosis and steatosis measures after 90-days of drinking abstinence among heavy drinkers with or without stratified TE or CAP values at baseline. Conclusions: CM for drinking reduction may not be effective at least short-term prospective in preventing liver fibrosis and steatosis progression for subjects without severe liver disease at baseline.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

ClinicalTrials.gov registry: NCT03353701

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03353701

This research was supported by Award Number [NIH U01AA020797] and [NIH T32AA025877 to S.A.] from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health and [NIH T32DA017629 to V.R.] from the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.

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The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

Institutional Review Board at University of Miami (Study Number: 20170396).

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All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors.