# Physiological Stress Reactivity as a Determinant in Co-occurring Alcohol Use and Anxiety Disorder: Diagnosis and Alcohol Use Outcomes

> **NIH NIH K01** · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · 2020 · $146,543

## Abstract

Training: This application for a Mentored Research Scientist Development Award will assure the candidate's
development as an independent clinical investigator in the field of alcohol use disorder and comorbidity
research. It will provide support to accomplish the following training objectives establishing expertise in: 1)
psychophysiological assessment of stress in alcohol use (AUD) and anxiety (AnxD) disorders, 2) clinical
research in the field of alcohol abuse research, 3) advanced statistical methods, and 4) responsible conduct of
research. The proposed training combined with strong dedicated mentors will assure success. Research Plan:
Comorbid AUD+AnxD is a significant barrier to successful AUD treatment. Converging evidence implicates
overlap in dysregulation of systems governing stress response (HPA, ANS, CNS) for symptom development in
AUD and AnxD. However, this must be systematically demonstrated in comorbid AUD+AnxD. The overall
objective is identification and prospective assessment of stress system function of AUD inpatients with and
without comorbid AnxD. Central Hypothesis: Co-occurring AnxD exerts an additive effect on severity and
persistence of stress system dysregulation that promotes relapse in AUD and is mitigated by AnxD-CBT.
Specific Aims: Evaluate the effect(s) of: 1) co-occurring AnxD on severity of biological stress system
parameters in AUD inpatients at pre-treatment; 2) co-occurring AnxD on persistence of stress system
dysregulations in AUD inpatients immediately after treatment (post-treatment) and 1 month later (early
abstinence); 3) AnxD-CBT treatment on biological stress system re-regulation among AUD patients with co-
occurring AnxD; and 4) re-regulation change in biological stress system responding on 4-month AUD clinical
outcomes. Innovation includes: a) comparing AUD inpatients with and without co-occurring AnxD to healthy
controls to identify the impact of AnxD comorbidity on HPA-ANS-CNS stress system dysregulation; b)
identifying severity and persistence of stress system dysregulation as a biomarker of AUD recovery in
comorbid AUD+AnxD; c) employing multiple assessment time points, and d) determining if AnxD-CBT
treatment normalizes perturbed stress systems while re-regulation during post-treatment abstinence predicts
treatment outcomes 4 months later. The proposed research is significant because: a) identification of additive
stress system dysregulation in AUD+AnxD vs. AUD alone will provide an integrated, biological systems
approach to supplement descriptive symptom-based diagnoses of comorbid AUD+AnxD and b) validating that
stress system re-regulation in comorbid AUD+AnxD is modulated by AUD treatment and predicts AUD
recovery will facilitate intervention development. Summary: Together, the foregoing activities will permit the
candidate to establish a career as an independent scientist who is well equipped to obtain research funding,
collaborate with colleagues in bidirectional translational research, and co...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9923512
- **Project number:** 5K01AA024805-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
- **Principal Investigator:** JUSTIN Jack ANKER
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $146,543
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-05-05 → 2022-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9923512

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9923512, Physiological Stress Reactivity as a Determinant in Co-occurring Alcohol Use and Anxiety Disorder: Diagnosis and Alcohol Use Outcomes (5K01AA024805-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9923512. Licensed CC0.

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