Alcohol withdrawal assessment scale

Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment of Alcohol Scale, Revised (CIWA-Ar) is a commonly used scale for assessment of alcohol withdrawals. This assessment for monitoring withdrawal symptoms requires approximately 5 minutes.

You can access a copy of this scale here.

One Unit of alcohol

The concept of units of alcohol consumed is helpful while calculating the dose of benzodiazepine required for alcohol withdrawal management. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one unit of alcohol corresponds to 10 grams of absolute alcohol, or ethanol.

Given below is how much volume of different alcoholic beverage amount to one unit of alcohol-

Distilled spirits (whiskey, vodka, rum, etc.)- 30 ml

Wines- 100 ml (range- 100-250 ml)

Beer- 250 ml (range- 150-400 ml)

Country liquor- variable