Frequency of alcohol and smoking cessation counseling in hepatitis C patients among internists and gastroenterologists.

Given the overwhelming evidence that both alcohol consumption and smoking accelerate the progression of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-induced liver disease, we evaluated the frequency of alcohol and smoking counseling of patients with HCV-induced liver disease by their primary care internists and gastroenterologists. One hundred and twenty-three medical records of consecutive patients with HCV-induced liver disease referred by an internist to a gastroenterologist for its management were reviewed. Patient gender, race, history of and counseling against alcohol and tobacco use by a physician and a gastroenterologist were obtained. A database was created using Microsoft Excel. There were 105 African-Americans, 12 Caucasians and six patients of other races/ethnicities. Forty-six (37%) patients were daily tobacco users and 34 (28%) patients were daily alcohol consumers. There was a statistically significant difference in the frequencies of alcohol (P = 0.0002) and smoking cessation (P = 0.0022) between gastroenterologists and internists. This study reveals that internists and gastroenterologists, alike, inadequately counsel patients with hepatitis C about tobacco and alcohol use.