This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Alcohol withdrawal is a common and dangerous medical emergency. Although benzodiazepines remain the standard treatment for this condition, the use of the barbiturate phenobarbital has increased by more than 200% in the last decade with limited evidence to suggest that this practice is safe and effective.

In the first large-scale study to compare phenobarbital to diazepam—a long-acting benzodiazepine—researchers found no differences in outcomes between phenobarbital and diazepam, potentially suggesting similar effectiveness. The findings appear online in JAMA Internal Medicine.

"Past studies have compared phenobarbital to a short-acting benzodiazepine called lorazepam and concluded that phenobarbital was better. Our study shows that when you compare phenobarbital to a similarly long-acting drug, they are actually almost equal in how well they work. This is important because hospitals are rapidly adopting phenobarbital for the treatment of alcohol withdrawal," explains corresponding author Nicholas Bosch, M.D., M.Sc., an assistant professor of medicine at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine.

The researchers analyzed the health records of 24,643 adult patients across 754 hospitals in the U.S., focusing on two groups of patients who were hospitalized for alcohol withdrawal. On their first day of admission, the first group of patients was given phenobarbital while the second group of patients was given diazepam.

Because this was a look-back study of real-world data rather than a clinical trial, researchers used advanced computer programs to balance out differences between the two groups (such as age, other illnesses and overall health) to make the groups as identical as possible.

Source link