As many as half of the patients who visit the emergency room with traumatic injuries have alcohol in their bloodstream, and roughly 10 percent of these patients will return to the ER within a year. Today, many emergency rooms use blood alcohol tests to screen for patients with risky drinking behaviors. Yet a new study by researchers from Loyola University Medical Center suggests that a questionnaire may be a better way to identify at-risk patients.
In the study, researchers reviewed 222 records from patients 18 years of age and older that were admitted to Loyola University Medical Center’s level I trauma center between May 2013 and June 2014. Each of the patients in the study had a blood alcohol test and had answered the World Health Organization's 10-point questionnaire, called the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). The research team compared the results of the blood test to that of the AUDIT test and found that the questionnaire was 20 percent more effective at identifying at-risk patients with dangerous drinking habits than the blood test.
As the researchers explain in their study, blood alcohol tests only provide "a snapshot of the patient's recent drinking behaviors" by measuring of the amount of alcohol in the patient's system at the instant the test is taken. In contrast, the questionnaire assesses the patient's overall drinking behaviors by asking questions such as, how often they drink, how much they drink per day and if they have feelings of guilt or remorse after drinking.
These findings are significant because blood alcohol tests are often the only tool used to assess at-risk drinking behavior in ER patients. Their findings call this common practice into question and suggest that the AUDIT questionnaire may be a better way to identify, and ultimately prevent, potentially dangerous drinking behaviors.
Previously: Alcohol-use disorder can be inherited: But why?, Could better alcohol screening during doctor visits reduce underage drinking? and How to make alcoholics in recovery feel welcome this holiday season
Via: Business Wire
Photo by: Julie °_°
