Domiciliary alcohol detoxification outcomes: a study from Goa, India

Abstract

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a significant public health problem across all regions of the world. Overall evidence regarding outcomes is available from western regions. Detoxification is one of the first steps in treating AUDs. The following case note review looks at community detoxification outcomes in a naturalistic setting. We looked at 100 clients with domiciliary detoxification. We found only 35% had a favorable outcome (follow up as advised) while 65% had unfavorable outcomes (lost to follow up or required admission). Trends of higher alcohol use (units/day) were seen in the unfavorable group. We also found that having a medical co-morbidity was associated with unfavorable outcome. In resource poor setting like our country there is a need to look at ways to enhance home detoxification programs; use of technology and supervised monitoring could probably improve the outcomes.

Keywords: AUD; India; detoxification; domiciliary; outcomes.