The Benzodiazepine Withdrawal Scale (CIWA-B)

Description

The Benzodiazepine Withdrawal Scale, also called the Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment - Benzodiazepines (CIWA-B), is a clinical score for assessing benzodiazepine withdrawal. It was designed to be objective, sensitive and reliable, and it is able to distinguish withdrawal from prewithdrawal. It can be used to evaluate new benzodiazepines, with significant changes in the score following administration for more than 3 weeks a potential predictor of dependence risk.

Benzodiazepine Withdrawal Scale consists of 22 items.

Questions - 20 topics:

(1) restlessness and agitation

(2) tremor

(3) sweating

(4) irritability

(5) fatigue

(6) tenseness

(7) difficulty concentrating

(8) loss of appetite

(9) numbness or burning sensation on face, hands and/or feet

(10) palpitations

(11) head feel full or achy

(12) muscle aches and/or stiffness

(13) anxiety, nervousness, jitteriness

(14) feel upset

(15) sleep quality

(16) feel weak

(17) enough sleep previous night

(18) visual disturbances

(19) fearful

(20) worrying about possible misfortunes

Responses are from 0 (normal) to 4 (severe).

Additional queries:

(21) hours of sleep last night

(22) time it took to fall asleep in minutes

total score =

= SUM(points for items 1 to 20)

Interpretation:

• minimum score: 0 (no signs or symptoms of withdrawal)

• maximum score: 80

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The Benzodiazepine Withdrawal Scale (CIWA-B)

Description

Specialty