USPSTF Releases Alcohol Screening Recommendations

The USPSTF has released updates to its 2013 recommendation on screening for unhealthy alcohol use in the primary care setting.

They commissioned a review of evidence on the effectiveness of screening to reduce unhealthy alcohol use, morbidity, mortality, and risky behaviors, as well as the accuracy of various screening approaches and the effectiveness of interventions to reduce risky behaviors. Their review included 45 studies (n = 277,881) that addressed the accuracy of screening tools, 10 of which were in adolescents, 5 in young adults, 27 in the general adult populations, 1 in older adults, and 2 in pregnant or postpartum women.

Following the review, they recommended that adults 18 years and older, including pregnant women, should be screened for unhealthy alcohol use in the primary care setting. Those who engage in risky or hazardous drinking should be provided with brief behavioral counseling interventions to reduce alcohol use (B recommendation).

They concluded that current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening and counseling in adolescents aged 12 to 17 years (I statement).

Notably, the USPSTF updated the previously used term “misuse” to “unhealthy use” in accordance with the American Society of Addiction Medicine’s definition of “unhealthy use” as “any use of alcohol that increases the risk of health consequences or that has already led to health consequences.”

—Michael Potts

Reference:

USPSTF. Screening and behavioral counseling interventions to reduce unhealthy alcohol use in adolescents and adults. JAMA. 2018;320(18):1899-1909.