Screening Needed for Alcohol-Use Disorders

Patients with an alcohol-use disorder are more likely to require mechanical ventilation, and/or need it for longer than those without, says a U.S. study.

More than 300,000 patients a year receive mechanical ventilation during intensive care in the United States, even though the hospital mortality rate for ventilated patients can approach 50 percent, according to corresponding study author Marjolein de Wit of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

De Wit recommended that clinicians screen all medical intensive-care patients for alcohol-use disorders, being mindful that patients with alcohol-use disorders may develop complications — such as alcohol withdrawal, ventilator-associated pneumonia and possibly acute respiratory distress syndrome.

In addition, patients should inform their healthcare providers about their alcohol consumption or if they have developed symptoms of alcohol withdrawal or delirium tremens so that healthcare providers tailor patient care more appropriately, according to the study published in the July issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.