Detection of Alcohol Use Disorders in General Hospital Admissions in the United States

Abstract

Estimated rates of detection, inpatient intervention, and treatment referral of alcohol use disorders in hospital admissions were low. Current-drinking hospital admissions should be screened for alcohol problems as part of the admission routine, with further professional evaluation, intervention, and treatment referral as indicated.

A Descriptive Study of US Army Soldiers Referred to, Evaluated by and Enrolled in the Army Substance Abuse Program, 1988-2003

“…This discrepancy between the judgment of the doctor and that of the ASAP counselor deserves to be explored further. Civilian studies have identified problems with physician-detection of alcohol abuse (24,46). Forty four percent of soldiers initially referred for evaluation after a DUI were not enrolled in alcohol treatment.…”

“…Some of these avenues are similar to those that have been studied and described in the civilian population including medical referrals through a primary care health provider (8,22) or hospital and emergency room personnel (21,41,46), legal intervention, and self-and family-referral (7,12,48,49). In addition to these routes, there are additional mechanisms for referral in the Army.…”

Registro de información en pacientes con trastornos por uso de alcohol en Mar del Plata, Argentina

“…Es así que cuando la derivación se hace desde los servicios de salud, generalmente se trata de pacientes con serios daños físicos y psicosociales (Atkinson et al, 2003). La detección temprana en la atención sanitaria también es importante, ya que ocultar trastornos por uso de alcohol puede tener efectos en los tratamientos médicos, por ejemplo, interfiriendo con ciertas medicaciones (Smothers et al, 2004).…”

Prevalence of Alcohol Dependence and Abuse in a General Hospital; Sensitivity and Specificity of MAST

“…Overall prevalence was estimated to be 7.4% among currentdrinking related admissions; estimated prevalence was 24.0%. Pair wise comparisons showed significant elevations in the prevalence of alcohol use disorders in current-drinking related admissions who were younger, unmarried, of a lower socioeconomic status, smokers, or drug users (8,9). Interesting finding that had pointed out the data that may be important for further research, treatment, and screening procedures came from a study that was performed by Kouimtsidis and colleguages in the UK, in which 14% of an inpatient sample was positive for alcohol misuse and people misusing one substance were more likely to be misusing others (10).…”