Relapses of acute alcoholic psychosis and seizures in alcoholic patients in the practice of emergency department of drug abuse clinic

Abstract

A study was conducted to investigate the frequency of relapses in the form of readmissions for patients of different age groups and both sexes with complications of alcohol withdrawal syndrome (acute alcoholic psychosis and convulsions (epileptiform seizures). A comparison was made of the main group of patients with AWS complications (n=176, 12,5% women) with a control group with uncomplicated AWS (n=136, men) among patients admitted to the narcological department for the period of 2010. Significant differences related to the nature of AWS complications, age and gender of patients have been found: the frequency of readmission was highest for middle-aged male patients aged 34–53 years in the control group and for women with alcohol withdrawal syndrome with delirium and abortive delirium. Among the group with complicated AWS the youngest of readmitted patients were men with a hallucinatory disorder, and the eldest-men with delirium and seizures. Previous repeat hospitalizations (2–3 hospitalization episodes) were frequently observed in patients in the control group, in the group with AWS complications predominant were 2 repeat admissions. An inverse correlation was observed for the frequency of two and three previous relapses for men with delirium and abortive delirium.