A withdrawal rate for alcohol has skyrocketed amid the coronavirus pandemic, a new study indicates.
Researchers found that a 34 percent increase in patients admitted to the hospital experienced symptoms such as headaches, nausea, tremors and seizures because they did not use alcohol after a period of heavy drinking.
What’s more, prices from March to September in 2020 were consistently higher compared to 2019.
The team at ChristianaCare, one of the largest health systems in the Mid-Atlantic region, believes the study is the first to determine the withdrawal rate of alcohol among people in the hospital.
They say the findings are a ‘call’ for other hospital systems to increase their investigation into alcohol use so that it can be treated.
A new study found that alcohol withdrawal rates increased by 34% during the pandemic from March 25 to September 22 compared to the same period in 2019 (above)
“We designed the study to capture the big picture,” said lead author Ram Sharma, a resident of psychiatry at ChristianaCare.
‘We expected higher prices for alcohol withdrawal during the pandemic, and the data proved us right. Increased vigilance to identify alcohol withdrawal with the systematic examination of patients admitted to the hospital will be crucial, as the increase in the pandemic will drive future home visits.
Alcohol withdrawal is the name given to the changes that occur when someone who has been drinking heavily for a long time suddenly stops drinking alcohol.
Among people who drink a lot for a long time, their brain chemistry adapts because it is constantly exposed to the calming or depressing effect of alcohol.
The brain makes more stimulating chemicals, such as serotonin or norepinephrine, to compensate for the effects of alcohol.
Therefore, the brain is overstimulated when alcohol is suddenly withdrawn.
Some of the milder symptoms that may be experienced include headache, nausea and vomiting.
However, some patients experience worse symptoms such as tremors, hallucinations, seizures and delirum tremens, that is, when there is a dangerous shift in a person’s breathing.
For the study, published in JAMA Network Open, the team looked at data for all patients admitted to 1 of ChristianaCare’s Delaware hospitals, Christiana Hospital and Wilmington Hospital, between January 1, 2018 and September 22, 2020.
Researchers used a revised clinical institute withdrawal assessment for alcohol to identify patients admitted to the hospital.
During the last two weeks of May, the percentage of patients with alcohol uptake in the hospital was 84% compared to the same two weeks in 2019 (file image)
Patients were examined during three periods in 2020: before the home order (January 1 to March 24); during the home order (March 25 to May 31) and after the home order (June 1 to September 22).
They found that 340 patients were diagnosed with alcohol withdrawal before the home order, 231 during the home order and 507 after the home order.
Next, the team compares the number of alcohol withdrawals in 2020 with corresponding periods in 2018 and 2019.
The results showed that during the pandemic, from 25 March to 22 September, alcohol withdrawal in hospitalized patients increased by 34 percent compared to the same period in 2019.
The largest incidence occurred during the last two weeks of the stay-at-home order, with an 84 percent higher percentage of alcohol withdrawal patients compared to the same two weeks in 2019.
Patients admitted to the hospital may 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 nationally relevant and serve as a call to warn other hospital systems of the growing need to look into the withdrawal of alcohol abuse and to refer patients for continued alcohol treatment,” said Dr. Addiction medicine.
“Our study uses the ongoing oversight of ChristianaCare for alcohol withdrawal, which can occur when patients admitted to the hospital are cut off from all sources of alcohol.”