Doctors not asking patients about alcohol abuse

Only one in six American adults overall, and one in four binge drinkers, have discussed their alcohol consumption with a doctor, according to a US health agency.

New research suggests American doctors are failing to screen patients for alcohol abuse

The Centres for Disease Controls and Prevention (CDC) claimed US doctors are failing their patients by not finding out if their patients drink too much alcohol.

Evidence suggests at least 38 million American adults binge drink – frequently downing at least four alcoholic beverages in a single sitting.

But only one in six adults overall and one in four binge drinkers have discussed their drinking habits with their doctors, the CDC says.

It is estimated around 88,000 people die in the US every year as a result of drinking too much alcohol.

CDC director Thomas Friedan told Reuters the practice needs to change.

“It should be a part of routine patient care,” Friedan said. “In the same way we screen patients for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, we should be screening for excess alcohol use.”

The data was collected from 166,000 interviews carried out in 44 different US states and the District of Colombia in 2011.

It revealed the percentage of patients who had discussed their drinking with a health care professional ranged from just 8.7% in Kansas to 25.5% in Washington D.C.

The CDC said it may be due to the fact doctors are already too busy to screen patients for alcohol abuse or that they feel treatment options are ineffective.

However, Friedan believes asking patients about the amount of alcohol they drink and then offering advice on how to reduce it, or referring the more serious cases for specialised treatment, could be effective for many people.

He added: “Counselling for five, 10 or 15 minutes can result in a substantial reduction in problem drinking.”

Binge drinking is defined by the CDC as five or more drinks in just a few hours for me and four or more for women.

The health agency also said adult men should drink no more than two drinks per day and no more than one for women.

The federal Affordable Care Act in the US requires new insurance plans to cover alcohol screening with no patient co-pay, Friedman said.