Harmen Beurmanjer

69 Tapering GHB or BZDs for Detoxification in GHB-Dependent Patients 5 Treating delirium In the case of delirium an atypical antipsychotic (quetiapine, olanzapine) or haloperidol was prescribed in the Netherlands (Dijkstra et al., 2017). In Belgium, also clotiapine was prescribed in addition to the aforementioned medications. Procedure After signing the informed consent, the MATE and GHB questionnaires were filled out. During detoxification withdrawal symptoms and craving were monitored three times a day. After the detoxification process, and before discharge of the hospital the discharge questionnaire was filled out. Analysis Group differences in baseline characteristics were compared using one-way-ANOVA’s for continuous variables and Chi-square for non-continuous variables. A linear mixed model (LMM) analysis was used with withdrawal (SWS, OWS) and craving (VAS craving)-scores as dependent variables and ”days in admission’’ (within-subjects variable) and “detoxification method of use’’ (between-subjects variable) as fixed factors. For all three questionnaires average scores per patient per day were calculated, in order to avoid daytime variation. Since BZD tapering lasted seven days on average we only analysed differences in withdrawal severity and craving between the two conditions over the first seven days of detoxification. Adverse events and dropout rates were compared between groups by a chi-square tests. P-values <0.05 (two-sided) were considered statistically significant. Data were analysed with SPSS Statistics 24. Results Patient characteristics A total of 84 patients (≈70% males) were analysed in this study: 42 received BZD and 42 received pharmaceutical GHB during their detoxification. The groups did not differ on demographic and GHB use characteristics. While all patients used multiple substances in the thirty days before admission, no differences between the groups were found (see Table 1). Nicotine, stimulants and alcohol were most commonly used besides GHB by participants in both groups in the past thirty days. An overview of BZD and GHB doses prescribed during detoxification for both groups is shown in table 2