Alcohol Use Disorder and Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome in Vietnamese Hospitalized Patients.

AIMS: To identify the extent to which patients admitted to a general hospital in Vietnam meet the criteria for risky alcohol drinking, alcohol use disorder (AUD), and alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS), describe problems and behavior of alcohol use such as types and quantity of alcohol drinking in a hospitalized population in Vietnam and investigate the association among age, disease-related factors and alcohol consumption with AWS.

METHODS: This study was conducted prospectively in 1340 patients admitted to a general hospital. All patients were screened for risky alcohol drinking. Risky alcohol drinkers were assessed by using the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test to identify AUD patients. The diagnosis of AWS was based on criteria defined by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders version 5. The AWS scale was used to quantitate AWS severity level.

RESULTS: Prevalence of risky alcohol drinkers, AUD patients, AWS patients of hospitalized patients were 15.5%, 13.1%, and 7.3%, respectively. All of the AUD and AWS were male. The majority of risky alcohol drinkers, AUD, AWS were found in the group of 40-60-year-old male. Almost all patients (98.3%) drank homemade alcohol. Hospitalized patients were more likely to develop AWS if they had liver disease or past experience with AWS.

CONCLUSIONS: AUD, AWS is common in hospitalized patients. Setting up the protocol to identify and take care alcoholics is urgent.