title: Pragmatic procedures for detecting and documenting alcoholism in medical patients.
abstract: Although alcoholics are known to utilize a disproportionate amount of medical care, hospital patients are not routinely screened for alcoholism. A sample of 310 randomly selected patients from two hospitals were administered a structured diagnostic interview. More than one-third (35%) of the men and 14% of the women met DSM-III criteria for a current alcohol use disorder and an additional 27% of the men and 9% of the women met criteria for an alcohol use disorder in remission. The practicality and efficiency of structured interviews is discussed along with the potential of a small subset of items to serve as a screen for alcoholism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, St. Paul.
authors.forename: N G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Harrison
authors.forename: S W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.forename: S W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Gust
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Mable
authors.forename: E P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Cable
mesh_terms: D000437:Alcoholism / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010343:Patient Admission; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012017:Referral and Consultation