TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2006//
TI  - Alcohol use among young adults presenting to the emergency department
JO  - Emergency medicine Australasia
A1  - Tjipto, Alwie C.
A1  - McD Taylor, David
A1  - Liew, Hui
SP  - 125
EP  - 130
VL  - 18
IS  - 2
N2  - Objectives: To determine the prevalence of young ED patients at risk from hazardous alcohol consumption, to identify high-risk patient subgroups and evaluate the feasibility of use of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) in this setting. Methods: We undertook a cross-sectional survey of 336 ED patients aged 18-30 years, inclusive. All were breathalysed prior to self-administering the AUDIT. A 'positive' AUDIT score (>/=8) defined hazardous alcohol consumption. AUDIT scores were correlated with sex and trauma diagnosis. Results: One hundred and thirty-one (39.0%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 33.8-44.5) patients were classified as AUDIT-positive. Men were significantly more likely to be AUDIT-positive (49%vs 23%, P < 0.001) and had significantly higher total AUDIT scores (P < 0.001) than women. Trauma patients were significantly more likely to be AUDIT-positive (P < 0.001) and had significantly higher AUDIT scores than non-trauma patients (P < 0.001). Of the six patients who recorded a positive breath alcohol reading, all were AUDIT-positive. One hundred (76.3%, 95% CI 68.0-83.1) AUDIT-positive patients did not report others being concerned about their drinking or had not been given advice to cut down. Conclusion: It is feasible to use the AUDIT screening tool in the ED to identify those at risk from hazardous drinking. In our ED there is a high prevalence of hazardous alcohol consumption in young adult patients, many of whom have not previously received advice to cut down on their drinking.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1742-6731
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1742-6723.2006.00819.x
ID  - ref1
ER  -