Characterizing safer drinking strategies among hospitalized adults with severe alcohol use disorder; a cross-sectional secondary analysis

• Published in: Journal of addictive diseases 2024-10, Vol.42 (4), p.551-555
• Main Authors: Lyden, Jennifer, Loh, Ryan, Braun, Hannan, Terasaki, Dale
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acute services; Adult; Adults; Aged; Alcohol use; Alcoholism; Alcoholism - epidemiology; Colorado - epidemiology; Cross-Sectional Studies; Drinking behavior; Electronic medical records; Emergency medical care; Emergency Service, Hospital - statistics & numerical data; Emergency services; Female; Hospitalization; Hospitalization - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Inpatient care; Male; Middle Aged; Patient admissions; Surveys and Questionnaires
• ISSN: 1055-0887; 1545-0848; 1545-0848
• DOI: 10.1080/10550887.2023.2275555

Safer drinking strategies (SDS) reduce alcohol-related harms in outpatient settings. Little is known about SDS among hospitalized patients. Evaluate SDS among hospitalized patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and assess for association with past-year acute-care utilization. We conducted a cross-sectional, secondary analysis of hospitalized adults with AUD at a safety-net hospital in Colorado from January-December 2021. Participants completed a questionnaire on SDS and were categorized as low (≤2 reported) or high SDS (≥3 reported). Past-year emergency department visits and hospital admissions were identified using the electronic health record. A Mann-Whitney test compared encounters between low and high SDS groups. Among 43 hospitalized adults with AUD, 38 (88.4%) reported ≥1 SDS and 21 (48.8%) reported ≥3 SDS. The low SDS group had fewer past-year admissions than the high SDS group (  = 145.0,  = 0.015). SDS are frequently identified by patients and may be an acceptable form of inpatient AUD management.