OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence of young ED patients at risk from hazardous alcohol consumption, to identify high-risk patient subgroups and evaluate the feasibility of use of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) in this setting. METHODS: We undertook a cross-sectional survey of 336 ED patients aged 18-30 years, inclusive. All were breathalysed prior to self-administering the AUDIT. A 'positive' AUDIT score (> or = 8) defined hazardous alcohol consumption. AUDIT scores were correlated with sex and trauma diagnosis. RESULTS: One hundred and thirty-one (39.0%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 33.8-44.5) patients were classified as AUDIT-positive. Men were significantly more likely to be AUDIT-positive (49% vs 23%, P < 0.001) and had significantly higher total AUDIT scores (P < 0.001) than women. Trauma patients were significantly more likely to be AUDIT-positive (P < 0.001) and had significantly higher AUDIT scores than non-trauma patients (P < 0.001). Of the six patients who recorded a positive breath alcohol reading, all were AUDIT-positive. One hundred (76.3%, 95% CI 68.0-83.1) AUDIT-positive patients did not report others being concerned about their drinking or had not been given advice to cut down. CONCLUSION: It is feasible to use the AUDIT screening tool in the ED to identify those at risk from hazardous drinking. In our ED there is a high prevalence of hazardous alcohol consumption in young adult patients, many of whom have not previously received advice to cut down on their drinking.
OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence of young ED patients at risk from hazardous alcohol consumption, to identify high-risk patient subgroups and evaluate the feasibility of use of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) in this setting. METHODS: We undertook a cross-sectional survey of 336 ED patients aged 18-30 years, inclusive. All were breathalysed prior to self-administering the AUDIT. A 'positive' AUDIT score (> or = 8) defined hazardous alcohol consumption. AUDIT scores were correlated with sex and trauma diagnosis. RESULTS: One hundred and thirty-one (39.0%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 33.8-44.5) patients were classified as AUDIT-positive. Men were significantly more likely to be AUDIT-positive (49% vs 23%, P < 0.001) and had significantly higher total AUDIT scores (P < 0.001) than women. Traumapatients were significantly more likely to be AUDIT-positive (P < 0.001) and had significantly higher AUDIT scores than non-traumapatients (P < 0.001). Of the six patients who recorded a positive breath alcohol reading, all were AUDIT-positive. One hundred (76.3%, 95% CI 68.0-83.1) AUDIT-positive patients did not report others being concerned about their drinking or had not been given advice to cut down. CONCLUSION: It is feasible to use the AUDIT screening tool in the ED to identify those at risk from hazardous drinking. In our ED there is a high prevalence of hazardous alcohol consumption in young adult patients, many of whom have not previously received advice to cut down on their drinking.
Authors: Adam D Brown; Martin Müller; Trevor Hirschi; Jonathan F Henssler; Katharina Rönz; Aristomenis K Exadaktylos; David Srivastava Journal: BMC Public Health Date: 2019-05-10 Impact factor: 3.295