CDC: Binge Drinking Screening Prevalence Is Low, Despite USPSTF Recommendations

Only 1 in 3 adults are asked by their healthcare providers about binge drinking during checkups, according to a recent report from the CDC.

This is despite the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommending routine screening and brief counseling for alcohol misuse for adults aged 18 years or older.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
RELATED CONTENT
Consistent Heavy Alcohol Consumption is Associated with Arterial Stiffness
17% Less Alcohol Consumption = 10% Lower CV Risk
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In order to estimate the prevalence of screening among US adults, the CDC analyzed data from the 2014 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System from 17 states and Washington, DC. Overall, they found that 77.7% of adults reported being asked about alcohol use by a healthcare professional or on a form during a checkup, but only 32.9% reported being asked about binge-level drinking. Among adults who were binge drinkers, only 37.2% reported being asked about alcohol use or being advised about the harms of drinking, while only 18.1% reported being advised to reduce or quit drinking. 

“Despite current policies that support the provision of [alcohol screening and brief intervention], including recommendations for its use by the USPSTF and the related Affordable Care Act requirement that many health plans cover it, and availability of evidenced-based clinical and implementation guidelines, these data indicate that all elements of [alcohol screening and brief intervention] are not routinely implemented in clinical settings, especially screening as recommended and brief intervention for persons who are screened and found to drink excessively,” the researchers concluded.

“Additional systems-level implementation of [alcohol screening and brief intervention], consistent with recommendations and with the provision of evidence-based community-level strategies, holds promise for broad level reduction of excessive alcohol use.”

—Michael Potts

Reference:

McKnight-Eily LR, Okoro CA, Mejia R, et al. Screening for excessive alcohol use and brief counseling of adults — 17 states and the District of Columbia, 2014. MMWR. 2017;66(12):313–319.