Clinical profile of patients with alcohol use disorder

Introduction: Present study aimed to evaluate the clinical profile of patients with alcohol use disorder and to study the associated derangements in their haematological and biochemical profile. Materials and methods: A hospital based observational study was conducted in medicine ward of a tertiary care Hospital during January 2016 to June 2017. Study subjects included 150 patients of alcohol use disorder admitted to general medicine ward during the study duration. A similar number of age matched controls were also included. Patients included in study were asked for detailed clinical history and history of alcohol consumption, type, quantity and its duration. Alcohol use disorder was diagnosed as per DSM V criteria. All the study subjects underwent following laboratory tests: complete blood profile, lipid profile and liver function tests. Results: Out of 150 patients, maximum patients were in the age group 41-60 (46.7%), 46% were in age group 25-40, and 7.3% were in age group 60-80. All patients were male and there was no woman. Most common diagnosis encountered in study patients was liver cirrhosis (38%) followed by anaemia (9.3%). On the basis of discriminant analysis TC, Apo B, and LDL/HDL-c among lipid measures and AST and GGT among liver enzymes emerged as the variables which can significantly discriminate between alcohol dependents and non-dependents. Conclusion: Heavy alcohol consumption for prolonged periods results in marked derangement of lipid profile and various biochemical and hematological parameters. Combination of more than one marker can be used in non-specialized settings in identifying alcohol-dependent and non-dependent subjects by using limited number of tests. Screening for alcohol use disorder should be done in all adult patients presenting to hospital, to detect alcohol use in its early stages so that interventions can be planned effectively.