Brief Physician Advice For High-Risk Drinking Among Young Adults

Paul M. Grossberg; David D. Brown; Michael F. Fleming

doi:10.1370/afm.122

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Table 1.

Results of Health Screening Survey (HHS) in a Sample of Young Adults (n = 4,861) Who Completed the HSS While Waiting to See Their Primary Care Physician

Characteristics	Male 18–25 y (n = 717) % (n)	Female 18–25 y (n = 1,743) % (n)	Male 26–30 y (n = 755) % (n)	Female 26–30 y (n = 1,646) % (n)	Total (n = 4,861) % (n)	Student (n = 793) %
* Six or more drinks per occasion.
Alcohol use
0 drinks	28 (201)	33 (568)	25 (189)	34 (555)	31 (1513)	33
1–7 drinks	27 (192)	43 (752)	31 (236)	44 (718)	39 (1898)	39
8–14 drinks	24 (174)	17 (291)	27 (200)	17 (276)	19 (941)	18
15 or more drinks	21 (150)	8 (132)	17 (130)	6 (97)	11 (509)	10
Binge drinking*
0 times in past 30 d	48 (336)	71 (1217)	50 (372)	74 (1201)	65 (3126)	67
1–2 times in past 30 d	25 (176)	20 (344)	27 (196)	20 (324)	22 (1040)	21
3–4 times in past 30 d	12 (82)	6 (97)	12 (91)	4 (72)	7 (342)	7
5 or more in times past 30 d	15 (109)	3 (57)	11 (80)	2 (35)	6 (281)	5
Cigarette use
Yes	34 (241)	33 (569)	32 (243)	32 (528)	33 (1581)	23
Lifetime	92	39	35	37	36

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Table 2.

Primary Outcome: Changes in Alcohol Use Between Groups After Brief Intervention (N = 226)

Alcohol Use	Treatment n = 114 % (n)	Control n =112 % (n)	tScore	PValue
*Repeated measures analysis of variance.¹⁴
Consumes ≥3 drinks per day in previous 7 days
Baseline	39 (45)	46 (51)	0.92	NS
6 mo	18 (20)	30 (34)	2.08	.02
12 mo	17 (19)	35 (39)	2.98	.002
24 mo	14 (16)	30 (34)	2.80	.01
36 mo	14 (16)	35 (39)	3.53	.001
48 mo	15 (17)	20 (22)	0.70	NS
Overall P < .001*
Drinks consumed in previous 7 days	Mean No. (SD)	Mean No. (SD)
Baseline	16.2 (11.2)	18.3 (12.1)	1.36	NS
6 mo	9.4 (10.3)	14.3 (11.1)	3.42	.001
12 mo	8.8 (8.8)	15.0 (13.2)	4.10	.001
24 mo	8.9 (9.5)	14.5 (16.6)	3.16	.002
36 mo	9.4 (12.7)	13.9 (16.3)	2.32	.02
48 mo	8.6 (10.2)	11.6 (12.7)	1.91	.06
Overall P < .002*
Binge drinking in the previous 30 days	% (n)	% (n)
Baseline	96 (110)	96 (107)	0.37	NS
6 mo	6 (76)	84 (94)	3.04	.01
12 mo	6 (75)	88 (99)	4.08	.001
24 mo	76 (87)	85 (95)	1.64	NS
36 mo	70 (80)	76 (85)	1.00	NS
48 mo	66 (75)	81 (91)	2.66	.01
Overall P < .01*
Episodes of binge drinking in previous 30 days	Mean No. (SD)	Mean No. (SD)
Baseline	5.9 (4.0)	6.3 (4.3)	0.78	NS
6 mo	3.1 (4.5)	4.9 (4.7)	2.90	.01
12 mo	2.9 (3.7)	5.3 (4.8)	4.17	.001
24 mo	4.2 (4.9)	5.6 (5.1)	2.17	.03
36 mo	4.2 (5.7)	5.5 (6.5)	1.55	NS
48 mo	3.6 (4.7)	4.8 (5.5)	1.72	.08
Overall P < .01*

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Table 3.

Study Participants With Health Care Utilization, Motor Vehicle Events, and Legal Problems: Comparison of Treatment and Control Group Outcomes

Outcomes	Treatment (n = 114) No. of Events (%)	Control (n = 112) No. of Events (%)
Note: nonparametric comparisons of events in treatment vs control using binomial distribution. The values in parentheses indicate the number of individuals involved. A single individual may have been involved in multiple events.
* P < .01.
† P < .05.
Medical use (48 mo after baseline)
Emergency department visits*	103 (48)	177 (63)
Days of hospitalization	131 (28)	150 (17)
Motor vehicle events (48 mo after baseline)
Motor vehicle crash with fatalities	0	1
Motor vehicle crash with nonfatal injuries^†	9	20
Motor vehicle crash with property damage only	19	28
Operating while intoxicated	8	10
Other moving violations	78	81
Total motor vehicle events^†	114 (55)	149 (67)
Legal events (48 mp after baseline)
Assault, battery, child abuse	6	6
Resist or obstruct office, disorderly conduct	6	3
Controlled substance, liquor violation*	0	8
Criminal damage, property damage	1	3
Theft, robbery	1	3
Other arrests	2	3
Total legal events	16 (11)	26 (11)

Additional Files

Tables

Supplemental Table and Figures

Supplemental Table: Description of patient sample that participated in the trial (N = 226); Figure 1. Percentage of total sample drinking 3 or more drinks per day in the previous 7 days; Figure 2. Mean total number of drinks in the previous 7 days.

Files in this Data Supplement:

Supplemental data: Table - PDF file, 1 page, 78 KB
Supplemental data: Figure 1 - PDF file, 1 page, 43 KB
Supplemental data: Figure 2 - PDF file, 1 page, 42 KB
The Article in Brief

Each year, more than 20,000 people between the ages of 15 and 34 years die from alcohol-related causes. High-risk drinking among 18- to 30-year-olds is reduced when they receive brief counseling about alcohol use from their primary care doctor. Brief alcohol counseling also leads to a decrease in the number of motor vehicle crashes, arrests for substance or liquor violations, and emergency room visits.