Portrayal of Hospital Alcohol Detoxification in France (Alcostop)

Context:

In France, the consequences of excessive alcohol use are one of the primary reasons for hospitalization. When stopping the substance, patients with an alcohol use disorder can suffer from a potentially fatal alcohol withdrawal syndrome. To mitigate these risks, a withdrawal under medical supervision is possible, either in an outpatient setting or in hospital, where the detoxification can be programmed or imposed. In the course of an alcohol dependent patient's life, re-drinking is not exceptional and the patient may undergo several withdrawals during his or her life.

Psychiatric pathologies, especially anxiety and depression, are more frequent in these patients than in the rest of the population, just as can be somatic pathologies.e. Withdrawal accidents, represented by comital seizures and delirium tremens, can be critical.

In hospital detoxifications, studies do not show any benefit in continuing the stay beyond 10 days, except in the case of somatic or psychiatric complication. However, little information is available on the average length of stay for hospital alcohol detoxification.

Although alcohol dependence issues are very frequent and the resulting withdrawals are relatively common and associated with numerous comorbidities, little data exists at a national level in France.

The aim of this study is to describe these hospital detoxifications: course, duration, frequency and clinical and paraclinical characteristics of the patients. We also wish to analyze which characteristics are associated with longer stays or re-hospitalization and to compare the care according to the facility type.

Objectives:

Main:

- To describe the clinical, paraclinical, and stay characteristics of hospital alcohol detoxification in France

Secondary:

• To describe the regional distribution of hospital alcohol detoxification
• To evaluate whether certain clinical characteristics are associated with a longer hospital stays
• To evaluate whether certain clinical characteristics are associated with subsequent re-hospitalization for the same reason
• To compare the characteristics of patient stays by type of facility

Methods:

In this descriptive observational study using pre-existing data accessed via the PMSI (Programme de Médicalisation des Systèmes d'Information), we will use all hospital stays from 2011 to 2020 for alcohol detoxification in France, both in public and private settings.

For each hospital stay will be collected the length, the antecedents of hospital alcohol detoxification, clinical and psychiatric comorbidities, withdrawals complication, alcohol use complication, further examinations.

We will describe the stays using median and quartiles for continuous variables and number and percentage for dichotomous variables. For secondary objectives, we will use a multivariate linear regression model if the length of stay is normal, an ordinal regression model otherwise. The characteristics of the stays will be compared regarding the type of facility using univariate comparative tests: Chi² or Fisher for dichotomous variables and Student or Mann-Whitney for continuous variables.