New research has found that during primary care visits, screening for unhealthy consumption of alcohol by patients through the use of a validated questionnaire is rarely done. This is despite the current recommendations provided by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Figures show that between 2014 and 2016, screening was performed during only about 3% of office visits.
Brittany Charrerton, a research fellow in the Department of Internal Medicine, stated that primary care physicians were usually overwhelmed with many patient health concerns and sometimes performing screening for alcohol consumption of patients was forgotten. Data from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism shows that in the United States, one in three adults use alcohol in an unhealthy way.
In order to conduct this study, Chatterton collaborated with San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center’s chief of internal medicine, Eleanor Bimla Schwarz; UC Davis vice chair of research in the Family and Community Medicine Department, Joshua Fenton; and assistant professor Alicia Agnoli of the UC Davis Department of Family and Community Medicine.
The researchers evaluated data gathered from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey in order to find out how many primary care physicians administered alcohol screening questionnaires to patients and delivered counseling on alcohol use.
They found that screening for alcohol consumption using a validated questionnaire was done in only 2.6% of primary care visits. On the other hand, alcohol counseling, which was offered either by referral or by the physician, was done in less than 1% of visits.
The researchers also found that screening was more likely to be done if the patient suffered from a number of chronic medical conditions, was new to the practice or was seen by their assigned physician.
Chatterton explained that these questionnaires were a useful way to identify patients who were at risk of unhealthy use of alcohol, noting that given the extensive social and health impacts of the unhealthy use of alcohol, identifying and preventing alcohol use disorder was crucial.
The unhealthy use of alcohol includes various behaviors, from risky drinking to disordered alcohol use, with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defining risky use of alcohol in males as the consumption of more than 14 drinks weekly. In women, this is defined as consuming more than seven drinks a week.
Unhealthy consumption of alcohol is associated with a number of chronic illnesses, including breast cancer in women, which is why it is crucial that patients discuss their drinking habits with their physicians in order to keep it in check.
The researchers recommend that alcohol screening rates be increased through the use of technology-based screening strategies in addition to making use of the cutting-edge alcohol use disorder treatments being developed by companies such as Cybin Inc. (NYSE American: CYBN) (NEO: CYBN) in order to forestall the complications that result from unhealthy alcohol consumption.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Cybin Inc. (NEO: CYBN) (NYSE American: CYBN) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/CYBN
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