Assessment of Pharmacological Treatment Quality: Comparison of Symptom-triggered vs. Fixed-schedule Alcohol Withdrawal in Clinical Practice

Abstract

Introduction: Despite the fact, that symptom-triggered alcohol withdrawal treatment is recommended by German guidelines on alcoholism, many hospitals continue to use fixed-schedule protocols, as they have been successfully applied for many years.

Methods: This retrospective study compared all patients’ records of alcohol withdrawal treatment from October 2010 to November 2011 at Magdeburg’s University Department of Psychiatry (n=120). A symptom-triggered protocol with clomethiazole (AESB, n=46) was used in parallel with the existing fixed-schedule protocol with diazepam (n=74).

Results: The symptom-triggered group showed less need of pharmacological treatment duration (p<0.001) and cumulative dosage of medication compared to the fixed-schedule protocol (p<0.006). No difference was observed regarding the need of clonidine or haloperidol (to treat blood pressure derailment or delirium) and the incidence of epileptic seizures.

Discussion: Based on the shorter treatment duration and a similar rate of complications our department has switched to the symptom-triggered protocol to improve the quality of patient care.

Key words

alcohol withdrawal - detoxification - substance dependence disorders

^* These authors contributed equally to this paper

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