REFERRAL & SAFETY-NETTING (NO DRUG THERAPY)
Harmful or dependent alcohol use causing health, psychological, or social damage; alcohol use is uncommon but not absent in Egypt, and the GP's role is screening, brief intervention, thiamine to prevent Wernicke's encephalopathy, and referral to addiction services for dependence, with diazepam used only for supervised withdrawal. - Refer, with advice
Children follow the same pathway: recognise and refer. No primary-care medicine is implied.
No dose - referral pathway, no medicine given in primary care
Harmful or dependent alcohol use causing health, psychological, or social damage; alcohol use is uncommon but not absent in Egypt, and the GP's role is screening, brief intervention, thiamine to prevent Wernicke's encephalopathy, and referral to addiction services for dependence, with diazepam used only for supervised withdrawal.
- Rare in Egyptian primary care.
- Referral is the pathway; the medicines listed alongside are what primary care can give before or while it happens.
- RED FLAG - Patients with alcohol-related cirrhosis require screening for complications such as hepatocellular carcinoma and esophageal varices.
- RED FLAG - Signs of withdrawal such as tremor, agitation, hallucinations or seizures need urgent medical supervision; confusion, unsteady gait or abnormal eye movements suggest Wernicke's encephalopathy, in which thiamine is given before glucose; evidence of liver disease or gastrointestinal bleeding also needs urgent assessment.