Chemical monitoring of disulfiram compliance: a study of alcoholic outpatients.

Poor compliance with disulfiram (Antabuse) therapy may reduce its efficacy in the treatment of alcoholism. This study was designed to examine two questions: (a) Could use of a chemical test for disulfiram ingestion be used clinically to improve disulfiram compliance and if so, (b) could improved disulfiram compliance contribute to improved compliance with other aspects of treatment? The results suggest that disulfiram compliance rates can be increased by clinical use of chemical monitoring data; however in this sample increased compliance with disulfiram did not correlate with improvements in other aspects of treatment compliance.