Comparison of CIWA-Ar and MINDS alcohol withdrawal assessments in hospitalized patients: Comparison of CIWA-Ar and MINDS
Recommended Citation
Kane SP, Cebrij SM, Hanson KL. Comparison of CIWA-Ar and MINDS Alcohol Withdrawal Assessments in Hospitalized Patients: Comparison of CIWA-Ar and MINDS. J Addict Nurs. 2025;36(2):99-103. doi:10.1097/JAN.0000000000000617
Abstract
Background:The revised Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment (CIWA-Ar) and the Minnesota Detoxification Scale (MINDS) are two scales used to assess alcohol withdrawal symptom severity among hospitalized patients. There is a lack of data supporting the reliability of these scales in acutely ill patients.
Objective:The objective of this study was to measure the reliability of CIWA-Ar and modified MINDS (mMINDS) and the correlation of the two scales to each other.
Methods:A prospective, observational study was conducted to evaluate adult patients with an alcohol withdrawal order set within 48 hr of hospital admission at two community hospitals. During nursing hand-off, the outgoing and incoming nurse both completed a CIWA-Ar and mMINDS assessment consecutively and independently. Correlations between CIWA-Ar, mMINDS, and the two observers were calculated.
Results:A total of 114 hand-off observations were collected for 73 patients. The frequency of an "unable to assess" item resulting in an invalid total score was 34.2% with CIWA-Ar and 28.9% with mMINDS. The median scores for CIWA-Ar and mMINDS were both 6 (IQR 3 to 10) and correlated well to each other (r = .801). Correlations between the two nurse raters was moderate for both CIWA-Ar (r = .68) and mMINDS (r = .72). As withdrawal scores increased, the difference in score between nursing raters also increased for both instruments.
Conclusion:CIWA-Ar and mMINDS are moderately correlated to each other and produce similar total scores. Correlations between two nursing raters suggest similar performance in rater agree
Document Type
Article
PubMed ID
40455631
Affiliations
Advocate Condell Medical Center, Aurora Medical Center Mount Pleasant