Alcohol use disorders in primary care patients in Cagliari, Italy.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the number of subjects with possible alcohol use disorders (SPAUD) among primary care patients in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy, by means of the self-administration of Alcohol use disorder identification test (AUDIT) and CAGE questionnaires.


METHODS
939 patients waiting in 10 surgeries of primary care physicians were asked to take part in the study. A sample of 309 women and 197 men (total 506), aged between 18 and 65 years, agreed to participate and completed both questionnaires. SPAUD were defined as those achieving cut-off scores of 5 for AUDIT and/or 1 for CAGE.


RESULTS
Seventy-nine (15.61%) patients were SPAUD, achieving a positive score in at least one questionnaire. Fifty-six (11.07%) and forty-six (9.09%) patients yielded positive results with AUDIT and CAGE, respectively. Twenty-three (4.55%) patients were positive at both AUDIT and CAGE. Significantly higher proportions of men than women were recorded among SPAUD.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of the present survey indicate a high number of SPAUD in a sample of primary care settings in Cagliari, closely similar to the occurrence of alcohol use disorders estimated in several other community-based primary care clinics in Western Countries.
Bernard B. Brodie Department of Neuroscience, University of Cagliari, Viale Diaz, 182, I-09126 Cagliari, Italy. agabio@unica.it
Roberta
R
Agabio
Manuela
M
Nioi
Claudia
C
Serra
Paolo
P
Valle
Gian Luigi
GL
Gessa
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010820:Physicians; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires