Baclofen as prophylaxis and treatment for alcohol withdrawal: a retrospective chart review

Abstract

Context: Current standard of care for alcohol withdrawal is accomplished using benzodiazepines. There are no recommendations for prophylaxis of alcohol withdrawal in high risk populations. Baclofen has been studied for the treatment of alcohol withdrawal, but current research is limited.

Objective: To determine if baclofen is an effective measure for prophylaxis and treatment of alcohol withdrawal in high risk populations upon admission to hospital wards. Design, Setting, Patients - Retrospective chart review of 42 inpatients at St. Anthony Hospital from November 2004 to April 2005. Patients were included if they were determined to be at risk for alcohol withdrawal. Patients were then divided into categories of prophylactic success versus failure and treatement success versus failure based on DSM-IV criteria for alcohol withdrawal.

Results: 17 patients were included in the study. 12 were categorized as prophylactic success and 2 were categorized as prophylactic failure. There was one treatment success and two treatment failures. The result was an 86% prophylactic success rate.

Conclusions: Baclofen has potential in the prophylaxis of alcohol withdrawal. It is difficult to determine the clinical significance for the numbers found in this study. There are no prior studies for alcohol prophylaxis to compare what would be an acceptable success rate. Further studies that are double-blinded placebo controlled are needed to support or refute the usefulness of baclofen for alcohol withdrawal.