A retrospective evaluation of phenobarbital versus benzodiazepines for treatment of alcohol withdrawal in a regional Canadian emergency department.

Evidence suggests that phenobarbital can be used to treat alcohol withdrawal syndrome as monotherapy; however, the therapeutic cornerstone remains benzodiazepines. To date, studies comparing the two treatment modalities in the emergency department (ED) are few. We sought to determine whether phenobarbital versus benzodiazepine monotherapy impacts ED length of stay and need for admission among adult presentations at a single regional hospital. In June 2019, a treatment algorithm offering both phenobarbital and diazepam pathways was introduced at the Battlefords Union Hospital ED, an 11-bed unit treating 27 000 patients annually in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada. A subsequent retrospective observational study evaluated all adult alcohol withdrawal syndrome presentations between June 2019 and January 2021. Medical records were reviewed for visit date, age, sex, comorbidities, psychosocial factors, Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol (CIWA-Ar) scores, secondary diagnoses, time of day, protocol adherence, attending physician, length of stay, disposition, and ED return. Descriptive statistics, log-rank testing, simple regression, and multiple regression were used in analysis. Of the 184 presentations, 30.4% were treated with phenobarbital. Median length of stay for phenobarbital versus benzodiazepine therapy was 4.4 h and 4.4 h, respectively (p = 0.21). Of the phenobarbital presentations, 9.4% were hospitalized versus 17.1% of the benzodiazepine presentations (p = 0.20). When adjusted for confounders, phenobarbital-treated presentations were 71.3% less likely to be admitted (p = 0.03). This research suggests that phenobarbital performs similarly to benzodiazepines regarding alcohol withdrawal ED length of stay and may result in reduced hospitalizations.