title: [Alcohol dependence in the Italian general population: diagnostic criteria according to general practitioners and to the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI)].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to identify the criteria used by general practitioners (GPs) for the diagnosis of alcohol dependence (AD) and to compare them with the criteria of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI).
  
  
  METHODS
  cross-sectional correlational study.
  
  
  METHODS
  the 55 GPs of Friuli Venezia Giulia Region (Northern Italy) and Tuscany Region (Central Italy) who took part in the research conducted a clinical evaluation of the first 40 patients who came for a medical examination.
  
  
  METHODS
  prevalence of AD diagnosed by GPs and CIDI and their association with sociodemographic variables, other diseases, and alcohol consumption.
  
  
  RESULTS
  AD prevalence assessed by the GPs was 5.4%, while AD prevalence assessed by the CIDI was 4.4%, with an overlap of about 26%. Patients identified as AD by the GPs were older and more frequently suffering from liver disease and hypertension than patients identified by the CIDI.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  the limited overlap between diagnoses of AD made by GPs and the one made by the CIDI is problematic. GPs appear to identify mainly more severe forms of AD, in which excessive consumption of alcohol is associated with the presence of liver disease, while the CIDI could identify younger patients who have not yet developed diseases. GPs' recognition of AD could be increased by using their expertise along with standardised questionnaires which measure alcohol consumption.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di scienze della vita, Università degli Studi di Trieste.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Marcatto
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di scienze della vita, Università degli Studi di Trieste.
authors.forename: Donatella
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ferrante
authors.affiliation: Agenzia regionale per la sanità, Regione Toscana, Firenze.
authors.forename: Allaman
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Allamani
authors.affiliation: Agenzia regionale per la sanità, Regione Toscana, Firenze.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bravi
authors.affiliation: Agenzia regionale per la sanità, Regione Toscana, Firenze.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cipriani
authors.affiliation: Agenzia regionale per la sanità, Regione Toscana, Firenze.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Voller
authors.affiliation: Agenzia regionale per la sanità, Regione Toscana, Firenze.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mariani
authors.affiliation: Azienda sanitaria universitaria integrata di Udine, Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia, Udine.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Scafuri
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Longitudinal Studies (CELOS), Technische Universitat Dresden, Germania.
authors.forename: Jakob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Manthey
authors.affiliation: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rehm
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di scienze della vita, Università degli Studi di Trieste. pierluigi.struzzo@uniud.it.
authors.forename: Pierluigi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Struzzo
mesh_terms: D000437:Alcoholism / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D058006:General Practice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires