title: Gender, violence and brief interventions for alcohol in the emergency department.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The impact of gender and violence on brief interventions (BIs) for alcohol use in the emergency department (ED) has not been studied. Our objective was to examine the effectiveness of alcohol BIs in an ED population stratified by gender and violence.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a secondary analysis of datasets pooled from three ED-based randomized controlled studies of alcohol BIs. AUDIT-C was the primary outcome measure; secondary outcomes were binge drinking and achievement of NIAAA safe drinking levels. We conducted univariate comparisons and developed generalized linear models (GLM) for the primary outcome and generalized estimating equation (GEE) models for secondary outcomes to examine the intervention effect on the whole study group, gender-stratified subgroups, and gender- and violence-stratified subgroups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 1219 participants enrolled, 30% were female; 31% of women and 42% of men reported violence involvement at baseline. In univariate analysis, no differences in outcomes were found between intervention and control groups for any subgroup. However, in multivariable models, men demonstrated an intervention effect for likelihood of safe drinking limits. Stratifying further by violence, only men without violence involvement demonstrated a positive intervention effect for safe drinking limits. There was no evidence of an intervention effect on women.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Analyzing the overall effect of ED-based BI may mask its ability to improve alcohol-related outcomes in a subset of the population. Alternatively, interventions may need to be significantly improved in subsets of the ED population, e.g., in women and in men with involvement in violence.
authors: Division of Women's Health in Emergency Care, Injury Prevention Center, Department of Emergency Medicine, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, 55 Claverick Street, 2nd Floor, Providence, RI 02903, United States. esther_choo@brown.edu
authors: Esther K
authors: EK
authors: Choo
authors: Alyson J
authors: AJ
authors: McGregor
authors: Michael J
authors: MJ
authors: Mello
authors: Janette
authors: J
authors: Baird
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D003376:Counseling / Q000379:methods; D003419:Crisis Intervention / Q000379:methods*; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D014754:Violence / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult