To support the Serbian Expert Board in setting up reimbursement for modern pharmacotherapeutic support, we compared a Serbian sample of alcohol-dependent patients with an Austrian sample, in order to detect differences that might inhibit the introduction of anti-craving medications in Serbia.
One hundred and twenty-seven (116 males) alcohol-dependent patients in Serbia and 136 in Austria (78 males) were enrolled consecutively from January 2011 to March 2012 and were assessed using the Lesch alcoholism typology instrument (LAT).
Age of onset was slightly higher in the Austrian sample (28.5 vs 30.0; P = 0.10). The Serbian sample showed a higher rate of anxiety disorders than the Austrian sample (89.8 vs 26.5%, P ≤ 0.0001). Suicidal tendencies, independent of alcohol intake or withdrawal syndrome, were higher in the Austrian sample (1.6 vs 13.2% P ≤ 0.0001). There was no difference between the two samples in Lesch-Type IV (26 vs 28); there was a slight excess in the Serbian sample of Type I (15 vs 10). In Austria, significantly more Type II patients (32 vs 52) had been included, while the Serbian sample comprised significantly more Type III patients.
Austrian and Serbian patients are quite similar, without any showing any factor that would detract from the potential value of modern anti-craving medications in Serbia. The differences in anxiety disorders might be due to the 1990s war and should be investigated further.
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