Geriatric Trauma Patients With Alcohol Withdrawal: Current Overview

People with alcohol dependence admitted to the hospital for any diagnosis can suffer alcohol withdrawal syndrome.1 Twenty-five percent of medical inpatients have alcoholism, and 18% to 25% develop withdrawal.1 Alcoholism is associated with increased risk for infection, sepsis, mortality, and length of stay. Additionally—and especially relevant given currently scarce health care resources—alcohol withdrawal causing critical illness strains ICU resources. Some of these patients are admitted for alcohol withdrawal specifically; others are admitted for any number of diagnoses, including trauma: in one study, 30% of the patients studied for alcohol withdrawal were treated by trauma surgery.