[Diagnosis and therapy of alcohol-withdrawal symptoms in the elderly: a case report]

The incidence and prevalence of alcoholism in the elderly population are tendentially underestimated. There are some reasons for this fact. The pathway to the diagnosis of alcoholism may be considerably compromised in the often comorbid or multimorbid patient. To live up to an advanced age seems to be a good argument against chronic substance abuse. Elderly people and their relatives are often still more reluctant to report about socially stigmatizing disorders. On top of that, the amount of social control is reduced after the end of employment and upon entering retirement. Yet, if alcohol-withdrawal symptoms occur, e.g., following an admission of the addicted patient to a hospital, the missed diagnosis of alcoholism means a delay of the correct interpretation of such complications and of the necessary treatment. Aged patients with reduced physical and mental reserve capacity are at special risk of developing further serious complications. Progressive, sometimes irreversible decay of the cognitive functions in long lasting delirious states or, as an aftermath of withdrawal, epileptic seizures are of particular importance.