Call to better screen problem drinking

A new survey of patients linked to 40 different GP clinics found that just 1.5% were identified as having problem alcohol use in the previous two years, prompting calls for better screening levels.

This is despite a recent World Health Organisation report showing that almost half of Irish drinkers engage in heavy drinking on a regular basis, placing Ireland’s binge drinking rates at the second highest of 174 countries studied

The study — the first large-scale study of patient records in general practice in Ireland looking at documentation of screening and treatment of problem alcohol use — suggests the possibility that “the high rates of alcohol abuse and dependence among physicians may be a contributory factor in the reluctance to ask about alcohol problems in the general practice population”.