Lancet. 2006 Dec 23;368(9554):2231-42.

Moss M, Burnham EL.

Divison of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine, University of Colorado
at Denver and Health Sciences Center, Denver, CO 80262, USA. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Alcohol abuse and dependence disorders are common in the 10% of hospitalised
patients who need admission to the intensive care unit (ICU), but these disorders
are often undiagnosed. The systemic effects from the excessive use of alcohol
increase susceptibility to, or directly cause various important disorders in the
critically ill. Early recognition of alcohol abuse and dependence is necessary
and should prompt consideration of several alcohol-specific diagnoses that have
important prognostic and therapeutic implications for these patients. We discuss
the use of screening tests to improve the identification of alcohol abuse and
dependence disorders, the epidemiology and pathogenesis of important
alcohol-related disorders, differences in the presentation of several common
alcohol-related diagnoses in the ICU, and important alcohol-specific therapies.