Screening and brief intervention in general medical settings: The potential for reaching binge drinkers

Screening and brief interventions for alcohol and other substance abuse are among “the most promising ways to alleviate the public health burden associated with substance use” (ONDCP, 2009). Screening and brief interventions are designed to be delivered in medical settings by physicians, nurses, and/or health educators. To what extent, however, do binge drinkers seek care from primary care doctors? We examined the potential for reaching binge drinkers in primary care by using data from 2007 California Health Interview Survey, a population-based telephone survey conducted by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. We assessed health care access and utilization among adults 18-64 years (n=36,395). Overall, 29% of adults 18-64 years (n=10,575) reported binge drinking at least once and 11% reported more than one binge drinking episode. Adults in the 18-44 age range reported a higher rate of a single binge drinking episode compared with adults 45 and older (33% vs. 20%, respectively). Among all adults who reported binge drinking at least once, 83% reported seeing a doctor in the past year and 19% reported visiting an emergency room. Moreover, 86% of these adults reported having health insurance. The rates of visiting a doctor and having insurance declined with the increasing frequency of binge drinking. Among weekly binge drinkers (3% n=1,070), 74% reported going to the doctor, 23% went to the emergency room, and 79% were currently insured. Subsequent analyses will identify predictors of intercepting binge drinkers in different health care settings.