Working Toward a Gold Standard: The Severity of Ethanol Withdrawal Scale (SEWS) Versus the Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment Alcohol Scale (CIWA-Ar).

Journal: Alcohol And Alcoholism (Oxford, Oxfordshire)
Published:
Abstract

Objective: Proving the Severity of Ethanol Withdrawal Scale (SEWS) significantly reduces Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome (AWS) treatment Time on Medication Protocol (TOMP).

Methods: Head-to-head Quality Assurance outcome compared separate cohorts of SEWS or Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment Alcohol Scale, Revised (CIWA-Ar) data using Student's t and Wilcoxon tests.

Results: SEWS-driven treatment (n = 244) reduced TOMP to 2.2 days versus 3.4 days for CIWA-Ar (n = 137); P < 0.0001.

Conclusions: The SEWS is the superior measure of AWS symptoms.

Authors
Thomas Beresford, Patrick Ronan, Julie Taub, Brenda Learned, Zhibao Mi, Mel Anderson