Chronic acute pancreatitis is frequently brought on by alcohol abuse. Therefore, guidelines stress the importance of offering alcohol prevention tools to patients while they are hospitalized. However, there is a lack of information on how this suggestion has been used in practice. Researchers aimed to evaluate the prevalence of counseling for inpatients with alcohol-induced acute pancreatitis (AAP) and the effect of counseling on AAP readmissions. From 2008 to 2018, they looked back at the medical records of tertiary care hospital patients who were admitted with AAP. Patients who did and did not receive counseling were compared on various demographic and clinical variables. They looked at 30-day and 1-year readmission rates and the percent of patients who received counseling for AAP. There were 243 patients with AAP identified; 47% received inpatient alcohol counseling. The 2 groups were similar to 1 other in terms of demographics. Patients who received alcohol counseling had a lower 30-day readmission rate than those who did not (19.3% vs. 31.2%, P=0.048). Both groups had comparable rates of readmission after a year. Those who received counseling had a 50% lower risk of being readmitted within 30 days than those who did not [odds ratio=0.52 (0.27, 0.98), P=0.046]. It was found that roughly less than 50% of patients who needed alcohol counseling actually got it. Patients who received alcohol counseling had a lower risk of readmission after 30 days, suggesting the intervention may have been beneficial. However, there may not be a lasting effect on alcohol prevention if readmission rates are the same after a year.
Source: journals.lww.com/jcge/Abstract/2022/10000/Inpatient_Alcohol_Cessation_Counseling_Is.2.aspx
