title: Gender differences in medical presentation and detection of patients with a history of alcohol abuse or dependence.
abstract: Women and men with alcohol use disorders differ in many respects. A retrospective medical record review of 132 patients was performed to determine outpatient clinic utilization, presentation patterns and physician actions related to patient gender and lifetime DIS-status. Women, irrespective of DIS-status, utilized out-patient health care services more often than did DIS-positive or negative men. Of 16 specific alcohol-related complaints, gender differences were only detected for trauma. DIS-positive men were more likely to have had an alcohol history taken during the preceding 12 months than were DIS-positive women. Sedatives/minor tranquilizers were most often prescribed to DIS-positive women. This study supports the need in primary care settings for more screening to detect and diagnose alcohol-abusing patients, particularly women. Physicians should routinely screen for alcohol abuse before prescribing sedatives or minor tranquilizers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio 78284-7818, USA.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Amodei
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Seale
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Alvarado
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D005260:Female; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders