Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35224452›Full record

ArticleMayo Clinic proceedings. Innovations, quality & outcomes2022

Benzodiazepine Treatment and Hospital Course of Medical Inpatients With Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome in the Veterans Health Administration.

Tessa L Steel, Carol A Malte, Katharine A Bradley, Eric J Hawkins

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Mayo Clinic proceedings. Innovations, quality & outcomes, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
1.5field-weighted citation impact, top 17% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

Tessa L SteelUniversity of Washington, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine.
Carol A MalteCenter of Excellence in Substance Addiction Treatment and Education.
Katharine A BradleyKaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, Seattle, WA.
Eric J HawkinsDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Seattle, WA.
Behavioral Tech Research, Inc. · USCenter for Excellence in Education · USKaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute · USPulmonary and Critical Care Associates · US

Funding

Training Clinicians in Implementation Research to Improve Alcohol-related CareK24AA022128 · NIAAA · KAISER FOUNDATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE · PI BRADLEY, KATHARINE ANTHONY · 2016 to 2020
$876k
NIAAA NIH HHS K24 AA022128
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo describe initial benzodiazepine dosing strategies and factors associated with variation in benzodiazepine dosing in a national cohort of hospitalized patients with alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS). PATIENTS AND

methodsThis cross-sectional study included adult patients with AWS admitted to medical services and treated with benzodiazepines at 93 Veterans Health Administration hospitals in 2013. Treatment was categorized by initial benzodiazepine dosing strategy-fixed-dose, symptom-triggered, or front-loading. Associations with patient characteristics, facility, and cumulative benzodiazepine exposure, intensive care, and intubation were evaluated.

resultsAmong 6938 medical inpatients with AWS, 2909 (41.9%), 2829 (40.8%), and 1200 (17.3%) received treatment with symptom-triggered, fixed-dose, and front-loading benzodiazepines, respectively. The magnitude of differences in initial treatment associated with patient characteristics was small compared with differences associated with the predominant practice at a facility. Compared with fixed-dose therapy, symptom-triggered therapy was associated with higher cumulative benzodiazepine exposure (mean, 208-mg vs 182-mg diazepam equivalents) and higher probability of intensive care and intubation (28.2% vs 21.3% and 4.8% vs 3.5%, respectively).

conclusionThis study revealed that real-world AWS treatment of medical inpatients was often inconsistent with published guidelines recommending symptom-triggered long-acting benzodiazepines for AWS. The facility where a patient was hospitalized was associated with marked treatment variation. In contrast to prior randomized controlled trials conducted in specialized detoxification units, hospitalized patients who received symptom-triggered therapy in this study had greater cumulative benzodiazepine exposure and higher probability of intensive care and intubation than those receiving fixed-dose therapy.

Indexed as

AWS, alcohol withdrawal syndromeBZD, benzodiazepineCIWA-Ar, Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol revisedICD-9-CM, International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical ModificationICU, intensive care unitRCT, randomized controlled trialVHA, Veterans Health Administration

Identifiers

PMID35224452
PMCPMC8855212
OpenAlexW4213297660

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.