An estimated 3.8% of all deaths and 4.6% of disability-adjusted life-years globally are attributable to pathological alcohol use.1 Such alcohol-attributable costs exceed 1% of the gross national product of high-and middle-income countries, making pathological alcohol use one of the largest avoidable risk factors for the worldwide burden of disease. Alcohol use disorders are present across medical specialties, with alcohol-related deaths particularly prevalent in the categories of injury, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and liver cirrhosis. Nonetheless, implementation of alcohol-specific medications remains limited across most medical specialties. Of the estimated 8,450,000 Americans with current alcohol dependence2 only 720,000 prescriptions were filled in 2007 for Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved medications for alcohol dependence; those prescriptions were provided primarily by psychiatrists.3
