Unhealthy alcohol use is the spectrum from risky consumption to the alcohol use disorder, alcohol abuse and dependence. Screening and brief intervention for those with unhealthy use are among the most effective and cost-effective services that can be delivered in primary care settings. Addressing Unhealthy Alcohol Use in Primary Care is a resource for primary care clinicians who are confronted by patients with these problems daily, and who wish to successfully address these issues in their practice.
The purpose of this article is to validate the single item screening test for unhealthy alcohol use recommended by NIAAA in primary care which gives rise to the study question, Does the single screening question test “How many times in the past …show more content…
Moreover, since the unhealthy alcohol use is prevalent it is easy to measure and validate the screening test using this design. A clinical trial design is not appropriate as it is illegal to advice the subjects to consume alcohol. A case control design is not a very good idea as it cannot be used in uncommon exposures and also because of the subject selection. A cohort design would have been appropriate as it includes a longer follow up period which can turn out to be beneficial to the subjects by creating a change in their drinking habits, but it is more time consuming and very …show more content…
The author mentions the definition of unhealthy alcohol use as either consumed risky amounts of alcohol, or had a current alcohol use disorder based on the timeline follow back and the CIDI, respectively. However, in the table 1, the sum of the frequency of subjects who have risky consumption amounts and the current alcohol use disorder do not match to the frequency of unhealthy alcohol use. There might be a possibility that few subjects were classified into more than one category; therefore, the number is different. However, the authors did not mention if same subjects were included in one or more category. According to ABCC (Alcoholic Beverages Control Consumption) and National Minimum Drinking Age Act the drinking age is from 20-21 years in Massachusetts. I am concerned as to how could a study be conducted with an enrollment criteria including an age of 18 years as it is illegal to consume alcohol at that age according to the Massachusetts law. If they recruited the age 18 drinkers, 1. Did they include this in protocol amendment- why age of 18 years when it is illegal to consume alcohol at that age? 2.were there any steps taken to provide extra protection for those who violate the laws? I agree that according to U.S statistics 33.5% college students reported heavy drinking in the year 2007, this could be a reason for including people from the age of 18 and older. Since the median age is 49 years and also the people
The purpose of this article is to validate the single item screening test for unhealthy alcohol use recommended by NIAAA in primary care which gives rise to the study question, Does the single screening question test “How many times in the past …show more content…
Moreover, since the unhealthy alcohol use is prevalent it is easy to measure and validate the screening test using this design. A clinical trial design is not appropriate as it is illegal to advice the subjects to consume alcohol. A case control design is not a very good idea as it cannot be used in uncommon exposures and also because of the subject selection. A cohort design would have been appropriate as it includes a longer follow up period which can turn out to be beneficial to the subjects by creating a change in their drinking habits, but it is more time consuming and very …show more content…
The author mentions the definition of unhealthy alcohol use as either consumed risky amounts of alcohol, or had a current alcohol use disorder based on the timeline follow back and the CIDI, respectively. However, in the table 1, the sum of the frequency of subjects who have risky consumption amounts and the current alcohol use disorder do not match to the frequency of unhealthy alcohol use. There might be a possibility that few subjects were classified into more than one category; therefore, the number is different. However, the authors did not mention if same subjects were included in one or more category. According to ABCC (Alcoholic Beverages Control Consumption) and National Minimum Drinking Age Act the drinking age is from 20-21 years in Massachusetts. I am concerned as to how could a study be conducted with an enrollment criteria including an age of 18 years as it is illegal to consume alcohol at that age according to the Massachusetts law. If they recruited the age 18 drinkers, 1. Did they include this in protocol amendment- why age of 18 years when it is illegal to consume alcohol at that age? 2.were there any steps taken to provide extra protection for those who violate the laws? I agree that according to U.S statistics 33.5% college students reported heavy drinking in the year 2007, this could be a reason for including people from the age of 18 and older. Since the median age is 49 years and also the people