The Authors’ Own Words: Alcohol Screening Scores and the Risk of Intensive Care Unit Admission and Hospital Readmission

The Authors’ Own Words: We ask authors to describe their impressions regarding the implications of their accepted work, how their findings will change practice, and what is noteworthy about the work.

Alcohol Screening Scores and the Risk of Intensive Care Unit Admission and Hospital Readmission

Brendan J. Clark, MD, MS; Anna D. Rubinsky, PhD; P. Michael Ho, MD, PhD; David H. Au, MD, MS; Laura J. Chavez, MPH; Marc Moss, MD; & Katharine A. Bradley, MD, MPH

Substance Abuse Vol. 37, Iss. 3, 2016

“This work builds on a body of literature that demonstrates that patients with severe alcohol misuse overuse emergent healthcare services. Additionally, alcohol misuse predisposes to or worsens the severity of several illnesses commonly cared for in an intensive care unit including sepsis/septic shock, the acute respiratory distress syndrome, acute respiratory failure, and nosocomial infection. The end result is that alcohol misuse, particularly severe alcohol misuse, is common in patients admitted to an ICU. In this manuscript, we confirm that alcohol misuse increases the risk of being admitted to an ICU. We further demonstrate an increased risk of hospital readmission. Although there are numerous potential explanations for the increased morbidity in ICU survivors with alcohol misuse, one potential explanation is ongoing heavy alcohol consumption. Our current healthcare system is poorly positioned to bridge patients from a life-threatening illness into alcohol treatment. This work highlights the need to further understand the unique barriers to alcohol treatment for ICU survivors as one approach to break the “vicious cycle” described in this manuscript.”