Brief Intervention for Medical Inpatients with Unhealthy Alcohol Use
Authors: Gallus Bischof, Jennis Freyer-Adam
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2007)

Letters16 October 2007Brief Intervention for Medical Inpatients with Unhealthy Alcohol UseGallus Bischof, PhD and Jennis Freyer-Adam, PhDGallus Bischof, PhDFrom University of Lübeck, 23538 Lübeck, Germany.Search for more papers by this author and Jennis Freyer-Adam, PhDFrom University of Lübeck, 23538 Lübeck, Germany.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-147-8-200710160-00015 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail TO THE EDITOR:In their article, Saitz and colleagues (1) conclude that the brief intervention is inadequate for medical inpatients with unhealthy alcohol use. We fear that their main finding is old wine in new skins: Brief intervention is ineffective in alcohol-dependent individuals.As the authors discuss, a central issue deals with the representativeness of their sample. Compared with the at-risk drinkers who declined to participate in the study, the 35% of at-risk drinkers who enrolled in the intervention study tended to report higher values on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and reported a substantially higher number of ...References1. Saitz R, Palfai TP, Cheng DM, Horton NJ, Freedner N, Dukes K, et al. Brief intervention for medical inpatients with unhealthy alcohol use: a randomized, controlled trial. Ann Intern Med. 2007;146:167-76. [PMID: 17283347] LinkGoogle Scholar2. Bertholet N, Daeppen JB, Wietlisbach V, Fleming M, Burnand B. Reduction of alcohol consumption by brief alcohol intervention in primary care: systematic review and meta-analysis. Arch Intern Med. 2005;165:986-95. [PMID: 15883236] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. Moyer A, Finney JW, Swearingen CE, Vergun P. Brief interventions for alcohol problems: a meta-analytic review of controlled investigations in treatment-seeking and non-treatment-seeking populations. Addiction. 2002;97:279-92. [PMID: 11964101] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar4. Emmen MJ, Schippers GM, Bleijenberg G, Wollersheim H. Effectiveness of opportunistic brief interventions for problem drinking in a general hospital setting: systematic review. BMJ. 2004;328:318. [PMID: 14729657] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar5. Rumpf HJ, Hapke U, Meyer C, John U. Motivation to change drinking behavior: comparison of alcohol-dependent individuals in a general hospital and a general population sample. Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 1999;21:348-53. [PMID: 10572776] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar6. Bischof G, Rumpf HJ, Hapke U, Meyer C, John U. Maintenance factors of recovery from alcohol dependence in treated and untreated individuals. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2000;24:1773-7. [PMID: 11141035] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: From University of Lübeck, 23538 Lübeck, Germany.Disclosures: None disclosed. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoBrief Intervention for Medical Inpatients with Unhealthy Alcohol Use Richard Saitz , Tibor P. Palfai , Debbie M. Cheng , Nicholas J. Horton , Naomi Freedner , Kim Dukes , Kevin L. Kraemer , Mark S. Roberts , Rosanne T. Guerriero , and Jeffrey H. Samet Brief Intervention for Medical Inpatients with Unhealthy Alcohol Use Lisa J. Merlo , Dheeraj Kumar , and Mark S. Gold Brief Intervention for Medical Inpatients with Unhealthy Alcohol Use Richard Saitz , Tibor P. Palfai , and Jeffrey H. Samet Metrics Cited byAlcohol screening and brief intervention in primary care: Absence of evidence for efficacy in people with dependence or very heavy drinking 16 October 2007Volume 147, Issue 8Page: 589KeywordsAlcoholismAlcoholsConflicts of interestFearHospitalizationsInpatientsMotivationOutpatientsStatistical dataWine ePublished: 16 October 2007 Issue Published: 16 October 2007 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2007 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...