Alcohol withdrawal rates have risen amid the coronavirus pandemic, a new study suggests.
Researchers found a 34% increase in hospitalized patients with symptoms such as headaches, nausea, tremor and seizures due to non-use alcohol after a period of intense drinking.
Moreover, the rates from March to September in 2020 were constantly higher compared to 2019.
The ChristianaCare team, one of the largest health systems in the mid-Atlantic region, believes its study is the first to quantify the rate of alcohol withdrawal among people in the hospital.
They say the findings are a “clarion call” for other hospital systems to step up their screening for alcohol withdrawal so they can be treated.
A new study found that during the pandemic, between March 25 and September 22, alcohol discontinuation rates increased by 34% compared to the same period in 2019 (above)
“We designed the study to capture the big picture,” said lead author Ram Sharma, a resident psychiatrist at Christiana Care.
“We expected to see higher rates of alcohol withdrawal during the pandemic, and the data proved us right. Increased vigilance to identify alcohol withdrawal with systematic screening of hospitalized patients will be essential, as increases in pandemic strength will remain at home.
Alcohol withdrawal is the name of the changes that occur when someone who has been drinking for a long time suddenly stops or significantly reduces alcohol consumption.
Among people who drink a lot in the long run, brain chemistry adjusts because it is constantly exposed to the sedative or depressive effect of alcohol.
The brain produces more stimulating chemicals, such as serotonin or norepinephrine, to compensate for the effects of alcohol.
Therefore, when alcohol is suddenly withdrawn, the brain is overstimulated.
Some of the milder symptoms that can be experienced, including headache, nausea and vomiting.
However, some patients experience more severe symptoms, such as tremors, hallucinations, convulsions, and delirum tremens, which is when there is a dangerous change in a person’s breathing.
For the study, published in the JAMA Network Open, the team analyzed data for all patients hospitalized at two of ChristianaCare’s hospitals in Delaware, Christiana Hospital and Wilmington Hospital, between January 1, 2018 and September 22, 2020.
The researchers used a revised withdrawal assessment tool from the Clinical Institute for Alcohol to identify inpatients with alcohol withdrawal.
In the last two weeks of May, the rates of inpatients with alcohol withdrawal were 84% compared to the same two weeks in 2019 (file image)
Patients were examined in three time periods in 2020: before the home stay order (January 1 – March 24); during the home stay order (March 25 – May 31) and after the home stay order (June 1 – September 22).
They found 340 patients diagnosed with alcohol withdrawal before the home stay order, 231 during the home stay order and 507 after the home stay order.
Then, the team compared alcohol withdrawal rates in 2020 with the corresponding periods in 2018 and 2019.
The results showed that during the pandemic, from March 25 to September 22, alcohol withdrawal in hospitalized patients increased by 34% compared to the same time period in 2019.
The highest incidence occurred in the last two weeks of the home stay order, with an 84% higher rate of patients with alcohol withdrawal compared to the same two weeks in 2019.
Inpatients can benefit from early intervention and treatment, including plenty of fluids; medicines to control heart rate, blood pressure and respiration; and medicines called benzodiazepines to treat anxiety, panic attacks, seizures, nausea and vomiting,
“Our findings are relevant nationally and serve as a clarion call to alert other hospital systems to the growing need to detect and treat alcohol withdrawal and guide patients for ongoing alcohol treatment,” said lead author Dr. Addiction Medicine.
“Our study uses ChristianaCare’s ongoing monitoring for alcohol withdrawal, which can occur when hospitalized patients are eliminated from all sources of alcohol.”