Characterizing safer drinking strategies among hospitalized adults with severe alcohol use disorder; a cross-sectional secondary analysis

Abstract

Background

Safer drinking strategies (SDS) reduce alcohol-related harms in outpatient settings. Little is known about SDS among hospitalized patients.

Objective

Evaluate SDS among hospitalized patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and assess for association with past-year acute-care utilization.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional, secondary analysis of hospitalized adults with AUD at a safety-net hospital in Colorado from January-December 2021. Participants completed a questionnaire on SDS and were categorized as low (≤2 reported) or high SDS (≥3 reported). Past-year emergency department visits and hospital admissions were identified using the electronic health record. A Mann-Whitney test compared encounters between low and high SDS groups.

Results

Among 43 hospitalized adults with AUD, 38 (88.4%) reported ≥1 SDS and 21 (48.8%) reported ≥3 SDS. The low SDS group had fewer past-year admissions than the high SDS group (U = 145.0, p = 0.015).

Conclusion

SDS are frequently identified by patients and may be an acceptable form of inpatient AUD management.

Keywords:

• Alcohol use disorder
• harm reduction
• safer drinking strategies
• hospitalization
• emergency department

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge Jennifer Naeger, Samantha Kiourtzidis, Rachel Haar, and John Mitchell for their assistance with data collection. The authors would like to acknowledge Anastasia Cornell for her assistance with parent study coordination.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, JL, upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by Denver Health Pilot Study Grant Program for Junior Investigators awarded to author Terasaki. The funder had no role in study design, collection, analysis or interpretation of data, writing of manuscript, or the decision to submit the paper for publication.