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Article: Alcohol Detox Research Update

Failure to complete treatment during an alcoholism detoxification is a major complication of effective clinical management. Researchers from the National Addiction Centre in London reviewed 470 first-time admissions to a specialist inpatient alcoholic detox centre in order to identify the differences between those who had a planned discharge, and those who had an unplanned discharge. Patients with a diagnosis of substance abuse are more likely to leave hospital prematurely when compared to other psychiatric patient groups (Bradley & Zaekin, 1997). Failure to complete treatment programmes is associated with medical or psychiatric complications and higher mortality (Schuckit, 1992).

The researched showed that those who discharged early from an alcoholism detox centre were more likely to be younger, had started to drink heavily at an earlier age, were more likely to have previously used cocaine, amphetamines, and heroin, and to have smoked cannabis in the thirty days prior to admission for alcohol detoxification. They were more likely to be positive for markers of Hepatitis C infection, to have a borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, or to have concurrent opiate or benzodiazepine dependence. Planned discharge from detoxification for alcohol was more likely to occur in those individuals suffering from depressive disorder. These results suggest that early identification can be made of alcohol-dependent individuals at risk of premature drop-out during in-patient treatment. Therefore, interventions to retain patients at risk of premature unplanned discharge should be developed.

References

Bradley, C.J., & Zaekin, G.A. (1997). An inpatient profile of patients with a substance abuse diagnosis. Journal of Substance Abuse and Treatment, 14, 155-162.

Martinez-Raga, J., Marshall, E.J., Keaney, F., Ball, D., & Strang, J. (2002). Unplanned versus planned discharges from in-patient alcohol detoxification: retrospective analysis of 470 first-episode admissions. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 37(3), 277-281.

Schuckit, M.A. (1992). Inpatient and residential approaches to the treatment of alcoholism. In Medical Diagnosis and Treatment of Alcoholism, Mendleson, J.H and Mello, N.K. eds, pp. 393-419.

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