BMC Public Health 2009, 9:101 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/9/101 Table 1: Characteristics of 173 Adults with Unhealthy Alcohol Use Visiting a Primary Care Physician Characteristic Female Race/ethnicity African-American White Latino Other Employed (last 3 month) Having a partner Illicit drug use, last 30 days (any drug) Patient's physician randomized to receive intervention (provision of screening results) Discussion with physician about alcohol consumption %(n) 42% (72) 58% (101) 18% (31) 16% (28) 8% (13) 60%(103) 68%(118) 34% (58) 58% (100) 55% (95) mean, (SD ) 43.10 (12.61) 3.05 (4.76) 8.41 (10.36) 5.04 (3.13) 6.01 (3.56) 7.75 (2.60) 3.32 (6.76) the analytic sample and all individuals identified by screening on gender, race and readiness to change. Pre- to immediate post-visit changes In unadjusted analyses of visual analog scales (VASs) (score range 1 to 10 points), subjects had significant increases immediately post-visit in readiness (+1.02 points, p < 0.0001), importance (+0.16, p < 0.0001), and confidence (+0.49, p = 0.003) when compared to pre-visit assessments (Table 2). Similarly, readiness as assessed by the RTCQ also increased (mean change +0.14, p < 0.0001). All of the differences indicated increases in read- iness, importance, and confidence. In adjusted models (Table 3), a discussion with the physi- cian about the patient's alcohol consumption was a signif- icant positive predictor of an increase in readiness as measured by VAS (adjusted mean change +0.78 points, p = 0.04), as was not having a partner (+1.06, p = 0.006). Age Drinks per day Alcohol related consequences Readiness to change drinking measures (pre visit) Readiness (1 to 10) Importance (1 to 10) Confidence (1 to 10) RTCQ (-24 to 24) Alcohol related consequences: Short Inventory of Problems score RTCQ: Readiness To Change Questionnaire 0.05) between study subjects (n = 173) and those enrolled but not included in the analytic sample (n = 61) on pre- visit readiness, importance, confidence, discussion with the physician about alcohol consumption, provision of screening results to the physician, drinks per day, age, race, employment status, having a partner or drug use. There was a significant difference between study subjects and those enrolled but not included in the analytic sam- ple on gender: subjects not included (i.e. lost to follow up) were more likely to be male (74% vs 58%, p = 0.05). Regarding generalizability, we compared included sub- jects to all other individuals identified by screening who were eligible. Subjects included in the analytic sample drank more (mean days drinking per week 2.98 vs 2.49, p = 0.01, mean number of drinks per typical day of con- sumption 4.45 vs 3.44, p < .0001). There were no signifi- cant differences (p < 0.05) between subjects included in Table 2: Changes (from Before to) Immediately After a Primary Care Physician Visit in Patient "Readiness" to Change Drinking Measure (range) Readiness (1–10) Importance (1–10) Confidence (1–10) RTCQ (-24 - +24) RTCQ: Readiness To Change Questionnaire CI = confidence interval Mean Change 1.02 0.16 0.49 0.14 (95% CI) (0.74, 1.30) (0.15, 0.18) (0.16, 0.81) (0.13, 0.15) Effect size (d) 0.33 0.05 0.19 0.02 Page 4 of 9 (page number not for citation purposes)