The role of affective temperament as a predictor of relapse in alcohol dependence

Background Personality traits have been proposed as relapse risk factors in alcohol use disorders. So far, no study has assessed the association between affective temperamental traits and the prospective relapse risk. Methods This was a 3-month prospective naturalistic study, designed to assess the impact of affective temperaments in relapse. A sample of 61 alcohol-dependent patients was collected from an ambulatory clinical setting. Socio-demographic information, drinking and substance use habits, drinking status, craving and affective temperament traits were assessed. Results Age, age of onset of alcohol abuse and dependence and drug consumption correlate with drinking status. Male alcohol-dependent patients who relapsed presented higher scores on cyclothymic temperament than patients with an alcohol dependence diagnosis who remain sober. Hierarchical logistic regression indicates that cyclothymic temperament predicted relapse in a 3-month follow-up. However, the coefficient was marginally significant after controlling for all potential confounding predictors. Conclusions Our results provide new insights about the role of affective temperaments in alcohol use disorders, specifically in predicting short-term relapse in detoxified male alcohol-dependent patients. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.