Weighing the Importance of Vital Signs in the Evaluation of Alcohol Withdrawal in Multiple Ethnicities When Employing the Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment

Abstract

This study was performed at an acute alcohol and drug rehabilitation center in Southern Arizona mainly serving three ethnicities; Caucasian, Hispanic, and Native-American. The CIWA-Ar assessment is used to evaluate the severity of withdrawal and a score of 10 or higher to the subjective questions results in admission to the in-patient unit. It has been observed that the Native-American patients suffering from withdrawal generally score lower on the CIWA-Ar scale compared to the other ethnicities, thus resulting in a lack of admission or reduced treatment. The purpose of this study was to analyze whether blood pressure and pulse should be used in conjunction with the CIWA-Ar assessment to aid in the evaluation of withdrawal among the ethnicities. The three ethnicities were not equally represented at the clinic. It was found that there is statistical evidence that blood pressure and pulse are significantly increased in withdrawal patients of all ethnicities and that the pulse measurements for Native-American patients do not differ from those observed for admitted Caucasian and Hispanic patients. Native-American patients seem to demonstrate similar vital signs to the withdrawing patients of the other two ethnicities, yet only 3 total patients were admitted.