The Effectiveness and Tolerability of Anti‐Seizure Medication in Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome: A Systematic Review, Meta‐Analysis and GRADE of the evidence

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Effectiveness and Tolerability of Anti‐Seizure Medication in Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome: A Systematic Review, Meta‐Analysis and GRADE of the evidence

AU - Lai, Jou‐yin

AU - Kalk, Nicola

AU - Roberts, Emmert

N1 - Funding Information: This study was supported and funded by King's College London. The funder had no role in study design; in the collection, analysis, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the paper for publication. All authors had full access to all the data in the study and all authors had final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. Addiction published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society for the Study of Addiction. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2022/1/1

Y1 - 2022/1/1

N2 - Background and Aims: Anti-seizure medications (ASMs) have been used historically as treatment options in alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS). In the past 10 years, there have been no large-scale meta-analyses comparing ASMs with placebo or the current AWS treatment standard, benzodiazepines. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of ASMs in AWS. Methods: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) via searching Medline, Embase and PsychINFO from database inception to March 2020 involving adults age >18 years with AWS. We included 24 RCTs reporting on a total of 2223 participants. Efficacy outcomes included the number of participants experiencing AWS related seizures or delirium, Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol–Revised (CIWA-Ar) score reduction and rescue medication requirements. Tolerability outcomes included adverse event rate and dropout because of adverse events, alongside severe and life-threatening adverse event rates. Quality was assessed using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE). Results: There was no evidence of significant improvements in any efficacy outcomes when comparing ASMs with placebo or benzodiazepines. When compared with benzodiazepines, ASMs demonstrated significantly increased odds of requiring rescue medications (OR = 3.50, 95% CI = 1.32, 9.28; P = 0.012). When comparing ASMs with placebo, there were significantly more dropouts because of adverse events (OR = 1.86, 95% CI = 1.05, 3.28; P = 0.034). Most results were of very low quality with the majority of included studies conducted before 2000. Conclusions: This systematic review and meta-analysis found no evidence to support general first line clinical use of anti-seizure medications in alcohol withdrawal syndrome treatment.

AB - Background and Aims: Anti-seizure medications (ASMs) have been used historically as treatment options in alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS). In the past 10 years, there have been no large-scale meta-analyses comparing ASMs with placebo or the current AWS treatment standard, benzodiazepines. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of ASMs in AWS. Methods: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) via searching Medline, Embase and PsychINFO from database inception to March 2020 involving adults age >18 years with AWS. We included 24 RCTs reporting on a total of 2223 participants. Efficacy outcomes included the number of participants experiencing AWS related seizures or delirium, Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol–Revised (CIWA-Ar) score reduction and rescue medication requirements. Tolerability outcomes included adverse event rate and dropout because of adverse events, alongside severe and life-threatening adverse event rates. Quality was assessed using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE). Results: There was no evidence of significant improvements in any efficacy outcomes when comparing ASMs with placebo or benzodiazepines. When compared with benzodiazepines, ASMs demonstrated significantly increased odds of requiring rescue medications (OR = 3.50, 95% CI = 1.32, 9.28; P = 0.012). When comparing ASMs with placebo, there were significantly more dropouts because of adverse events (OR = 1.86, 95% CI = 1.05, 3.28; P = 0.034). Most results were of very low quality with the majority of included studies conducted before 2000. Conclusions: This systematic review and meta-analysis found no evidence to support general first line clinical use of anti-seizure medications in alcohol withdrawal syndrome treatment.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85104976545&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/add.15510

DO - 10.1111/add.15510

M3 - Article

SN - 0965-2140

VL - 117

SP - 5

EP - 18

JO - Addiction

JF - Addiction

IS - 1

ER -