Emergence of alternative treatment goals to abstinence in alcohol use disorder call for the development of an assessment instrument relevant to the different therapeutic objectives, especially those that meet patients' concerns. Although the measure of quality of life is now considered relevant in alcohol use disorders, reliability, content and sensitivity to change are still sensitive issues.

The purpose of this review is to clarify the concept of quality of life used in clinical trials in alcohol dependence. We described the instruments and identified the life domains explored.

After a systematic search on PubMed, clinical trials that aimed at improving the quality of life in alcohol dependent patients and used an instrument to measure the quality of life as specifically designated by the authors were included.

Of the 46 articles screened, 23 studies were included. Fourteen instruments were used as an outcome measure. Thirty-two life domains with high between-scale heterogeneity were explored. The scale used most frequently was the SF-36, a generic health status measure. The quality of life improved in more than three-quarters of the trials. However, only one-third of the comparative trials demonstrated a significant difference between groups.

The comparison of the trials on quality of life improvement is hindered by the variety of instruments. The instruments currently used may not collect information that is both relevant and accurate. The construction and validation of specific patient-reported outcomes would significantly progress the assessment of treatment efficacy.