Alcohol and Alcoholism Advance Access originally published online on September 16, 2006
Alcohol and Alcoholism 2006 41(6):611-615; doi:10.1093/alcalc/agl068
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
DEVELOPMENT OF A RATING SCALE TO PREDICT THE SEVERITY OF ALCOHOL WITHDRAWAL SYNDROME
1 Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, J. W. Goethe University, Frankfurt/M., Germany and 2 Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical School of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed at: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Vivantes Klinikum Hellersdorf, (Teaching hospital of the Charité, Berlin), Myslowitzer Strasse 45, 12621 Berlin, Germany; Tel: +49/30 56803560, Fax: +49/30 56803562; E-mail: tilman.wetterling{at}vivantes.de
(Received 7 March 2006; first review notified 8 May 2006; in revised form 2 August 2006; accepted 2 August 2006)
Aim: Various factors that may influence the severity of the alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS) have been identified. We tested the predictive value of these factors compiled in a newly developed scale, LARS (Luebeck alcohol withdrawal risk scale). Method: A total of 100 individuals (81 males, 19 females, mean age: 47.6 ± 9.9 years) consecutively transferred to inpatient detoxification were included in this prospective study. All fulfilled the ICD-10 criteria for alcohol dependence. The LARS was applied at the time of admission. The course of the AWS was assessed by AWS-scale at least every 4 h. The maximum AWS-score was taken as indicator of the severity of AWS. Results: The mean AWS-scoremax was 6.5 ± 3.3. In all 20% of the patients developed a severe AWS (AWS-scoremax 
10). The maximum score usually occurred within 36 h after the last drink. A short version, the LARS11, was developed by statistically grounded item reduction. The optimal cut-off of the LARS11 was calculated as 10. The positive predictive value for severe AWS was 76%, while the negative predictive value was 98.7%. The sensitivity and specificity were high (95 or 92.5%, respectively). Conclusion: LARS11 assessed immediately before detoxification appears to provide a useful estimate of mild/moderate versus severe AWS, and is now ready to be validated in an independent sample.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  B. Habermeyer, M. Weiland, R. Mager, G. A. Wiesbeck, and F. M. Wurst Letter to the Editor * A clinical lesson: Glioblastoma multiforme masquerading as depression in a chronic alcoholic Alcohol Alcohol., January 1, 2008; 43(1): 31 - 33. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|