Loading...
Most patients who are experiencing alcohol withdrawal do not require acute care or specific treatments. For the few with symptoms that are severe enough to require hospitalization, mortality has decreased substantially since the introduction of benzodiazepines more than 40 years ago, but deaths still occur. To determine risk factors for death, researchers in Spain reviewed medical records for 539 hospitalizations (436 patients) for alcohol withdrawal during 16 years at a single hospital. All patients received clomethiazole, a sedative with efficacy for alcohol withdrawal (not approved for use in the U.S.)
Alcohol withdrawal was the reason for hospitalization in 62% of cases; in the rest, withdrawal developed after admission for other causes.…