The use of medications approved for alcohol use disorders in Italy

Fortinguerra, Filomena; Pierantozzi, Andrea; Trotta, Francesco

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1110435

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Europe has the highest alcohol consumption worldwide [1][2][3]. The 2020 Italian Ministry of Health Report highlighted that 14.3% of the young adult Italian population is at increased risk of developing alcohol-related disorders requiring treatment [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduced Pharmacological Intervention of Prehospital Services for Acute Alcohol Intoxication during the COVID-19 Pandemic in A Large District of Southern Italy

Giustino,

Natola,

Savoia

et al. 2024

JCM

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Background Stress during a pandemic increases the risk of alcohol consumption, which may require pharmacological management. Methods An observational single-center retrospective study was conducted from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2021, and divided into 2-year periods (2018–2019 and 2020–2021). This study focused on calls to one of the emergency departments (EDs) of seven hospitals in the Bari (Italy) metropolitan area for patients requiring emergency services (ESs) who were either admitted or not admitted, due to their refusal. Results A 30% reduction in emergency calls for alcohol-related issues and a 41.17% reduction in calls for patients who refused to be admitted to the ED were observed during the pandemic. During the pandemic, an inverse association was found between pharmacological treatment and number of calls coded green (non-critical) and yellow (fairly critical) in patients admitted to EDs. An inverse association was also found for calls coded green in patients not admitted to EDs and pharmacological treatment. Metadoxine was administered in almost all alcohol-related emergencies, primarily in conjunction with drugs acting on the gastrointestinal tract, irrespective of age, the period considered, and whether patients were admitted or not admitted to the ED. Conclusions ES is the first and only out-of-hospital service encountered by numerous patients with alcohol-use disorders who refuse to be admitted to the ED. These patients should be directed by ES personnel to a multidisciplinary program to receive treatment for drinking, improve their quality of life, and reduce sanitation costs.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduced Pharmacological Intervention of Prehospital Services for Acute Alcohol Intoxication during the COVID-19 Pandemic in A Large District of Southern Italy

Giustino,

Natola,

Savoia

et al. 2024

JCM

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduced Pharmacological Intervention of Prehospital Services for Acute Alcohol Intoxication during the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Large District of Southern Italy

Giustino,

Natola,

Savoia

et al. 2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Stress during a pandemic increased the risk of alcohol consumption, which may require pharmacological management. The characteristics of emergency calls for alcohol-related issues for patients pharmacologically treated, admitted to, or not admitted to the emergency department (ED) were analyzed. An observational single-center retrospective study was conducted from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2021, and divided into 2-year periods (2018–2019 and 2020–2021). This study focused on calls to one of the EDs of seven hospitals in the Bari (Italy) metropolitan area for patients requiring emergency services (ES) who were either admitted or not admitted, due to their refusal. A 30% reduction in emergency calls for alcohol-related issues and a 41.17% reduction in calls for patients who refused to be admitted to the ED were observed during the pandemic. During the pandemic, a reduced rate of pharmacological treatment for calls coded green (non-critical), and an increase in calls coded yellow (fairly critical) and red (very critical) were recorded. Metadoxine was administered in almost all alcohol-related emergencies, primarily in conjunction with drugs acting on the gastrointestinal tract, irrespective of age, the period considered, and whether patients were admitted or not admitted to the ED. ES is the first and only out-of-hospital service encountered by numerous patients with alcohol-use disorders who refuse to be admitted to the ED. These patients should be directed by ES personnel to a multidisciplinary program to receive treatment for drinking, improve their quality of life, and reduce sanitation costs.

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