Alcoholism is the 3rd leading cause of death in the US, with approximately 88,000 deaths per year attributable to alcoholism, revealed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.

A new study has revealed that many alcohol-related deaths could be avoided with the use of drugs that target alcoholism, yet doctors do not prescribe them.

The study showed that only 10% of patients with alcohol-use disorders are being provided with drugs as a treatment for their lethal habit. Findings of the study have been published in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA). As many as 22,803 participants were involved in the study and the focus was mainly on four drugs to prevent the drinking habit.

Alcoholics were found to be benefitted from naltrexone, acamprosate, Topamax and selincro. The study found that disulfiram also known as antabuse was not effective to prevent return to drinking.

The National Institutes of Health said that about 18 million Americans are victims of alcohol dependence or alcohol abuse. But still, only a third of them actually receive any sort of treatment that could change their lives by freeing them from their dependence on alcohol. Besides, less than 10% of them are being prescribed with medications that have high efficacy to prevent return to drinking.

"The drugs are not used as much as they potentially could be. Historically, that's because of the uncertainty over their efficacy. People with alcohol use disorders have serious health and mental problems as well in most of the cases. They need help and they are often not getting help from their near ones. One piece of the treatment is these medicines", said Jonas, an associate professor of medicine, at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

Naltrexone interferes with the high of drinking, whereas acamprosate play a significant role in reducing the physical and emotional discomfort patients feel after stopping drinking.