(Dawson et al. 2009). Our results also differ from those of an outpatient treatment study which showed that low-risk drinkers had better medical outcomes than abstainers (Kline-Simon et al. 2013). However, these studies used continued dependence or heavy drinking as reference groups and did not directly compare abstinent to non-abstinent recovery as we did here. Furthermore, neither study controlled for length of time in recovery. Thus once controlling for length of time in recovery, non-abstinence appears less desirable in terms of quality of life.
