Mortality Associated with the Use of Antipsychotics in Alcohol Withdrawal Syndromes

Abstract

ABSTRACT Antipsychotics are frequently used for inpatients with alcohol withdrawal syndromes (AWS). While there is evidence on the effects of these medications in other settings there is little data on the mortality rate associated with these drugs for the treatment of AWS) We utilized the national COSMOS Epic database to identify inpatients with AWS. We then assessed the mortality rate for adult patients with or without the use of anti-psychotics along with subsets of patients based on age, gender, race, and ethnicity. We identified 233,821 patients of whom 26% received antipsychotic agents. The mortality rate was 1.5%. Patients aged 60 or over and those who received typical antipsychotic agents had a higher mortality rate. The use of typical antipsychotic agents is associated with a higher mortality rate. The use of any antipsychotic agent in patients aged 60 or over is associated with an increased mortality rate. Further study of this effect is warranted.