The use of baclofen to reduce alcohol-attributable hospitalizations and emergency department admissions

• Published in: Alcohol (Fayetteville, N.Y.) Vol. 125; pp. 35 - 41
• Main Authors: Huang, Ming-Chyi, Tsai, Kevin, Shao, Yu-Hsuan Joni
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.06.2025; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Alcohol; Alcohol use; Baclofen; Baclofen - therapeutic use; Chronic illnesses; Confounding (Statistics); Drug dosages; Drug efficacy; Drunkenness; Emergency department; Emergency medical care; Emergency Service, Hospital - statistics & numerical data; Female; GABA-B Receptor Agonists - therapeutic use; Health insurance; Hospitalization; Hospitalization - statistics & numerical data; Hospitalization - trends; Humans; Incidence; Intoxication; Male; Medical diagnosis; Medical records; Mental disorders; Middle Aged; Patient admissions; Psychiatric/Mental Health; Psychosis; Psychotropic drugs; Statistical analysis; Substance abuse treatment; Taiwan - epidemiology; Tranquilizers; Young Adult; Taiwan; United States > US; Alcohol; Hospitalization; Emergency department; Baclofen
• ISSN: 0741-8329; 1873-6823; 1873-6823
• DOI: 10.1016/j.alcohol.2025.03.002

The potential benefit of baclofen in reducing hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) admissions attributed to alcohol-related diagnoses has not been conclusively established. This study aimed to examine the relationship between baclofen use and the incidence of alcohol-attributable hospitalizations and ED admissions in the general population. We conducted a self-controlled case series study (SCCS) using data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. 2904 patients who had at least one alcohol-attributable hospitalization or emergency department admission and were prescribed 28 or more days of baclofen unrelated to alcohol were included. Conditional Poisson regression was used to estimate the incidence rate ratio (IRR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the risk of alcohol-attributable hospitalizations and ED admissions during exposure to baclofen, as well as the pre- and post-exposure periods, relative to the baseline period. The contribution of concomitant psychotropic medication use was also assessed. Baclofen was associated with a reduced incidence of alcohol-attributable hospitalizations (IRR = 0.64; 95% CI: 0.53∼0.77) and ED admissions (IRR = 0.56; 95% CI: 0.49∼0.65) in multivariate models. No statistically significant reduction was observed in any admission method in either the pre- or post-exposure period. A dose-dependent response in ED admissions was observed with baclofen, i.e. >60 mg/day associated with a greater decrease in the IRR (0.25, 95% CI: 0.10∼0.62) relative to doses of <30 (0.63, 95% CI: 0.53∼0.75) and 30–60 mg/day (IRR = 0.50, 95% CI: 0.40∼0.63). These findings suggest a possible beneficial effect of baclofen in reducing the incidence of alcohol-attributable hospitalizations and ED admissions. •First study on baclofen's effect on alcohol-related hospitalizations and ED visits.•Baclofen use linked to fewer alcohol-attributable hospitalizations and ED visits.•Higher baclofen doses associated with greater reductions in hospitalization risk.