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. 2022 Jul;83(4):461-469.
doi: 10.15288/jsad.2022.83.461.

Neurobiology and Symptomatology of Post-Acute Alcohol Withdrawal: A Mixed-Studies Systematic Review

Anees Bahji  1 , David Crockford  1 , Nady El-Guebaly  1
Affiliations

Neurobiology and Symptomatology of Post-Acute Alcohol Withdrawal: A Mixed-Studies Systematic Review

Anees Bahji et al. J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2022 Jul.

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to review the neurobiology and symptomatology of post-acute alcohol withdrawal syndrome (PAWS).

Method: We conducted a PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses)-guided systematic review of articles from two databases for English-language randomized and nonrandomized studies involving PAWS published between database inception and December 2020.

Results: Twenty-seven studies met inclusion criteria. PAWS involves predominantly negative affect, which develops in early abstinence and can persist for 4-6 months or longer. Symptoms include anxiety, dysphoria, anhedonia, sleep disturbance, cognitive impairment, cravings, and irritability. PAWS symptoms appear to be risk factors for recurrent alcohol consumption. They have been associated with reported neurobiological differences in evoked potentials; measures of orexins, cortisol, serotonin, and pancreatic polypeptides; and neuroadaptation changes in the nucleus accumbens and the prefrontal cortex.

Conclusions: There is credible evidence to support the concept of PAWS based on this review's findings. There remains a need to develop and test specific criteria for PAWS. High-quality treatment studies involving agents addressing its neurobiological underpinnings are also recommended.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors state that there are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) flow diagram
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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