Context

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is defined by the World Health Organisation as consuming more than 40mg/day of alcohol for males and 30mg/day of alcohol for females. It is estimated that one in six adults in Europe has AUD.¹ A study performed in a UK ED found that around 20 percent of attendances to the department were linked to alcohol and that around one third of these patients would subsequently require admission to hospital.² In Scotland alone this translated to 32000 alcohol related hospital admissions in 2022/23³ representing a significant burden the health service.

It is estimated that between 8-11% of patients with AUD who are admitted to hospital will go on to subsequently develop alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS).^4,5