THE KINDLING HYPOTHESIS - FURTHER EVIDENCE FROM A UNITED-STATES NATIONAL STUDY OF ALCOHOLIC MEN

A sample of 6818 alcoholic men participating in a short in-patient det oxification episode was studied to examine the kindling effect of repe ated prior alcohol withdrawals on occurrence of seizures or severe wit hdrawal problems observed during the hospitalization. Subjects studied were hospitalized in one of 172 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs m edical centers. Patients with seizures and withdrawal problems had mor e prior detoxifications and other alcohol-specific hospitalizations. T hey were also more likely to be later readmitted for an alcoholism dia gnosis. Patients with withdrawal problems during the detoxification ep isode studied were more likely to have such problems again as well as seizures during the readmission; those with seizures during the index detoxification were more likely to have repeated seizures during the r eadmission. These results confirm the kindling effect in a large, mult i-site patient sample and suggest that alcohol detoxification programs may need to consider anticonvulsant therapy in patients with many pri or detoxifications or withdrawals.