Only 1 in 3 adults reported being asked about binge drinking during checkups
Failure to properly screen patients for alcohol misuse will lead to missed treatment opportunities for a brief intervention, treatment (which might include pharmacotherapy), or a referral to treatment for alcohol dependence.
Even though the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends screening adults for alcohol misuse, a recent study found that only about 33% of patients reported that their clinicians asked about binge drinking.
CDC researchers used data from the 2014 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a state-based telephone survey, to estimate the prevalence of U.S. adults who reported receiving elements of alcohol screening and brief intervention at their last routine checkup. Results were published in the March 31 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Overall, 77.7% of respondents reported being asked about alcohol use in person or on a form, and 68.8% reported being asked how much they drink. However, only 32.9% reported being asked about binge-level consumption (four or more drinks on an occasion for women; five or more for men).
The survey identified binge drinkers by their response to a question about how many times in the past 30 days they had four or five or more drinks on an occasion. Among binge-drinking respondents, 37.2% reported being asked about alcohol use and informed of the harms of overconsumption, and only 18.1% reported being asked about alcohol use and advised to reduce or quit their drinking.
Subgroups more likely to be asked about binge drinking included men (35.0% asked), those with less than a high school diploma (40.1%), and binge drinkers (36.8%). Non-Hispanic blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians/Alaskan Natives were more often asked about binge drinking than non-Hispanic whites and Asians/Pacific Islanders.
The study authors cautioned that failure to properly screen patients for alcohol misuse will lead to missed treatment opportunities. “Without proper screening and assessment, health professionals will not know which patients could benefit from a brief intervention, treatment (which might include pharmacotherapy), or a referral to treatment for alcohol dependence,” they wrote.
They noted limitations of their study, including use of self-reported data from patients in 17 states and the District of Columbia, so prevalence estimates may not be nationally representative. They added that the database does not capture information from patients in certain institutional settings (e.g., prison) and that the survey median response rate was about 43%, which may introduce response bias.