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UrduOnly four percent of people who are screened and report heavy drinking go on to receive specialty treatment for their alcohol use, according to a study published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research. The study found race, ethnicity, and health risk profile to be associated with differences in the likelihood of receiving specialty treatment. These findings echo previous studies and highlight the need for more tailored approaches to screening and intervention to improve treatment for diverse groups of people with varying levels of alcohol use problems, from heavy drinking to alcohol use disorder.
Tag: alcohol screening
Treatment for Alcohol Use Disorder Improves Quality of Life in Men and Women Aged 60+, Study Finds
Adults aged 60 and older reported better overall health and quality of life after treatment for their alcohol use disorder, according to a new study published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research.
Medicaid Expansion Associated with Increased, But Not High Quality, Screening for Alcohol Use
People living in states with expanded Medicaid access were more likely to be screened by their doctor for alcohol use compared to people who lived in states that did not expand Medicaid access, but they did not necessarily receive effective interventions. A study published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research found that living in a state with expanded Medicaid access was associated with a higher prevalence of lower-income adults’ receiving some alcohol screening at a recent checkup but not receiving higher quality screening or brief counseling. The authors suggest that expanded Medicaid access may increase screening via increased access to primary care but that policies that target healthcare provider constraints are also needed to increase high-quality, evidence-based screening and counseling around alcohol use.
Doctors’ Own Drinking Behavior May Influence How They Discuss Unhealthy Alcohol Use with Patients
Doctors who drink more are less likely to offer screening and counseling about alcohol use to their patients. According to a systematic review of research published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research, frequency and quantity of health care providers’ alcohol consumption were inversely associated with their clinical practices to help patients reduce unhealthy alcohol use. Doctors who drank three days a week or more were less likely to screen their patients for alcohol use, and those who drank larger quantities of alcohol offered less screening and counseling to their patients about unhealthy alcohol use.
Objective Blood Alcohol Measures Confirm the Limitations of Questionnaires and Offer Increased Clinical Opportunities for Treating Dangerous Drinking
Patients in the Emergency Room (ER) should be blood-tested for hazardous drinking rather than evaluated by questionnaires alone, according to a new study comparing alcohol use screening methods. A sizeable minority of patients attend the ER for alcohol-related reasons (12–15% in the UK). That proportion is growing, a US study has found. The ER offers valuable opportunities to identify hazardous drinking and intervene with treatments that can help patients reduce their alcohol use. This requires efficiently and reliably screening ER patients for risky consumption. Validated methods include the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) — and its shorter version, AUDIT-C —which are among the most frequently used screening questionnaires. Another, the Timeline Followback Questionnaire (TLFB), is a retrospective self-administered survey estimating daily alcohol consumption over a specific prior period. In contrast, phosphatidylethanol (PEth), a metabolite of ethanol, is a direct and
Blood Spot Screening Shows Promise for Identifying Newborns Affected by Prenatal Alcohol Exposure
A simple screening test could help identify infants at risk of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), according to a report in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. Prenatal exposure to alcohol can cause a wide range of lifelong physical, behavioral, and cognitive disabilities, encompassed by the umbrella term FASD. Identifying babies at risk for FASD has previously relied on maternal self-reports of drinking in pregnancy; however, this can be unreliable, as women may under-report their drinking because of recall bias or fear of stigma. Recently, biological markers have been identified that can provide more objective data on prenatal alcohol exposure and supplement information from maternal self-reports. One such biomarker, phosphatidylethanol (PEth), is a direct marker of alcohol metabolism that can indicate exposure with a high level of accuracy, and can be simply measured in newborns (and their mothers) using minimally invasive methods.