Outcomes of Patients with Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome Treated with High-Dose Sedatives and Deferred Intubation

Annals of the American Thoracic Society
Robert StewartConstantine Manthous

Abstract

High doses of sedating drugs are often used to manage critically ill patients with alcohol withdrawal syndrome. To describe outcomes and risks for pneumonia and endotracheal intubation in patients with alcohol withdrawal syndrome treated with high-dose intravenous sedatives and deferred endotracheal intubation. Observational cohort study of consecutive patients treated in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a university-affiliated, community hospital for alcohol withdrawal syndrome, where patients were not routinely intubated to receive high-dose or continuously infused sedating medications. We studied 188 patients hospitalized with alcohol withdrawal syndrome from 2008 through 2012 at one medical center. The mean age (SD) of the subjects was 50.8 ± 9.0 years and their mean ICU admission APACHE (Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation) II score was 6.2 ± 3.4. Thirty subjects (16%) developed pneumonia, and 38 (20.2%) required intubation. All of the 188 patients received lorazepam (median total dose, 42.5 mg), and 170 of 188 received midazolam, all but 2 by continuous intravenous infusion (median total dose, 527 mg; all administered in ICU); 19 received propofol (median total dose, 6,000 mg); and 19 received dexmedetomidine (...Continue Reading

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