Stephane M, et al. - Given that hallucinations are sometimes encountered in the course of alcohol withdrawal, researchers here explore for the factors predisposing to alcohol withdrawal hallucinations (AWH) and the implications of AWH with respect to the mechanisms of hallucinations. Findings suggest a protective effect of age, higher educational attainment, and higher standard of living against AWH. However, the risk for AWH may be increased in association with social isolation, hypervigilance, exposure to alcohol during brain development, alcohol tolerance, and long and severe exposure to alcohol.

Methods

• Data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) is used to investigate the demographic correlates, alcohol-use clinical patterns, and psychiatric comorbidities in two groups: drinkers with and without a history of AWH.
• The odds ratios for studied factors are estimated and logistic regression analyses are used to compare the two groups.

Results

• As per findings, over 2% of drinkers report AWH (758 of a sample of 34,533 subjects).
• Alcohol tolerance and withdrawal seizures are observed to have high association with AWH.
• A 10-fold increase in AWH is observed in association with exposure to alcohol during brain development compared to exposure during adulthood.
• AWH is more frequently experienced by African Americans, Native Americans, and unmarried subjects, as well as subjects with lower levels of education and lower levels of income.
• In addition, individuals with a history of AWH have higher odds ratios for most psychiatric illnesses than those without such history—yet of anxiety disorders, only panic was associated with AWH.