Do primary care physicians' own AUDIT scores predict their use of brief alcohol intervention? A cross-sectional survey.
BACKGROUND
To define whether the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) scores of primary care physicians themselves predict their willingness to use brief alcohol intervention.


METHODS
Cross-sectional self-administered questionnaire survey to all 3193 physicians providing primary health care in Finland. The response rate was 1909 (59.8%). Odds ratios from multinomial regression analysis were calculated for self-reported frequency (never, occasionally or regularly) of conducting brief interventions by physicians with AUDIT scores of 0-1, 2, 3, 4, 5-7 or >or=8.


RESULTS
The prevalence of heavy drinkers based on AUDIT score (>or=8) was 14.5% among all physicians, 7.0% among females and 27.0% among males. Of the respondents 9.4% reported doing brief intervention regularly and 50.0% occasionally. AUDIT scores did not significantly predict either regular or occasional use of brief intervention. Instead, some other independent predictors for more frequent use of brief intervention were found. These included having a specialist licence in general practice or occupational health care and the location of the practice, but not gender or age.


CONCLUSIONS
The present results indicate that in general heavy drinking among primary care physicians do not explain the low frequency with which brief intervention is used in primary health care.
Aalto
Mauri
M
Department of Mental Health and Alcohol Research, National Public Health Institute, P.O. Box 33, FIN-00251 Helsinki, Finland. mauri.aalto@ktl.fi
Hyvönen
Senja
S
Seppä
Kaija
K
D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010820:Physicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors