WEDNESDAY, Sept. 29, 2004 (HealthDayNews) -- Hospital emergency rooms may be an effective place to target heavy drinkers for referral to counseling, says a British study published in this week's online issue of The Lancet.
The study noted that about one-third of emergency department patients had been drinking before their arrival at the hospital. After midnight, people who had been drinking accounted for more than two-thirds of emergency room patients.
This study included 600 emergency patients who'd been drinking. Half were given an information leaflet about the dangers of alcohol and the other half received an information leaflet and an appointment with an alcohol-health worker.
After six months, the patients who'd been referred to an alcohol-health worker were consuming an average of 60 units of alcohol a week, compared with an average of 83 units of alcohol a week for people who received only the leaflet.
The patients referred to a counselor had an average of 1.2 visits to emergency rooms over the following year, compared with an average of 1.7 visits for those who received only the leaflet.
"Screening and referral for brief intervention for alcohol misuse in an emergency department is associated with reduced alcohol consumption and reattendance in the emergency department. Identification and referral of patients attending an emergency department who are misusing alcohol provides an opportunity to help patients develop insight into the consequences of their drinking and promote improved health," study author Dr. Mike Crawford, of the Imperial College London, said in a prepared statement.
More information
The U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has more about the dangers of alcohol.
