Vadhan 2024: drinking changes among Sunnyside app members

What they tested

Sunnyside is a web program that sends tailored text messages to help people drink less. People aged 21 and older chose to join on their own. The study included 46,411 members who finished a starting questionnaire, enrolled and logged their drinking at least once.

Each member got a weekly drinking plan based on their usual patterns and goals, daily reminders to log drinks, and the option to text peer coaches. Researchers used statistical growth models to track drinks per week and daily drinking over the 12 weeks after joining.

What they found

At the start, 64.3% of members said they usually drank 7 of 7 days a week.

Weekly drink counts fell most in the first weeks and more slowly after that, for an overall 33% reduction. Members with heavier drinking and more concern about their drinking at the start saw a bigger relative drop.

Limits

• There was no control group, so it can't separate the effect of the program from people cutting back on their own after deciding to join.
• Drinking was self-reported through the program, and only members who logged at least once were counted.
• One author is from Cutback Coach, Inc., and two others sit on Sunnyside's clinical advisory board, as the site's Sunnyside review notes. The company says it wasn't involved in the research and analysis.

What it means if you're considering naltrexone

Sunnyside doesn't involve medication. For someone weighing a moderation app against or alongside naltrexone, this study suggests app members report drinking less, but it can't show how the app compares with medication or with doing nothing, because no one was assigned to those.