Abstract
Objective:To measure the prevalence of current drinking and potential problem drinking in an inner-city ambulatory care setting, using the CAGE questionnaire.
Design:Survey of patients attending ambulatory care clinics, using structured personal interviews.
Setting:Three ambulatory care clinics serving an indigent, predominantly black population of metropolitan Atlanta: a general medical appointment clinic, a walk-in clinic, and a neighborhood primary care clinic.
Patients/participants:Patients over the age of 18 who attended one of the above clinics on a day when interviewers were available and who were estimated to have more than a 45-minute wait prior to seeing their bealth provider.
Interventions:None.
Measurements and main results:15.3% of subjects had CAGE scores ≥2 (95% CI 12.2, 19.0). A CAGE score of ≥2 was almost three times more common in men than in women, 26.7% vs. 9.5%. Only 8.6% (95% CI 6.3, 11.7) of subjects reported drinking ≥2 drinks per day. These findings suggest that problem drinking may affect as many as one in six people seeking care in inner-city ambulatory care clinics and provide support for the use of screening instruments such as the CAGE questionnaire for improved sensitivity in detecting alcobolism in these practice settings.
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Supported in part by grant CA17998-15 from the National Cancer Institute. Dr Eley is the recipient of an Anerican Cancer Society Clinical Oncology Career Development Award.
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Simon, D.G., Eley, J.W., Greenberg, R.S. et al. A survey of alcohol use in an inner-city ambulatory care setting. J Gen Intern Med 6, 295–298 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02597424
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02597424