General Hospital Psychiatry
Volume 23, Issue 3 , Pages 133-137 , May 2001

Physicians’ low detection rates of alcohol dependence or abuse: a matter of methodological shortcomings?

  • H.-J. Rumpf, Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • Medical University of Lübeck, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Research Group for Substance Abuse: Treatment, Epidemiology, and Prevention (S:TEP), Lübeck, Federal Republic of Germany
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +451-5002871; fax: +451-5003480
    • ,
  • J. Bohlmann, M.D.

      Affiliations

    • Ostholstein-Kliniken, Eutin, Federal Republic of Germany
    • ,
  • A. Hill, M.D.

      Affiliations

    • Universitätsklinik Eppendorf, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hamburg, Federal Republic of Germany
    • ,
  • U. Hapke, Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • University of Greifswald, Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, Greifswald, Federal Republic of Germany
    • ,
  • U. John, Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • University of Greifswald, Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, Greifswald, Federal Republic of Germany

References 

  1. Cleary PD, Miller M, Bush BT, Warburg MM, Delbanco TL, Aronson MD. Prevalence and recognition of alcohol abuse in a primary care population. Am J Med. 1988;85:466–471
  2. Townes PN, Harkley AL. Alcohol screening practices of primary care physicians in Eastern North Carolina. Alcohol. 1994;11:489–492
  3. Kaner EFS, Heather N, McAvoy BR, Lock CA, Gilvarry E. Intervention for excessive alcohol consumption in primary health care (Attitudes and practices of English general practitioners). Alcohol Alcohol. 1999;34:559–566
  4. Babor TF, Higgins-Biddle JC. Alcohol screening and brief intervention (dissemination strategies for medical practice and public health). Addiction. 2000;95:677–686
  5. Moore RD, Bone LR, Geller G, Mamon JA, Stokes EJ, Levine DM. Prevalence, detection, and treatment of alcoholism in hospitalized patients. JAMA. 1989;261:403–407
  6. Coulehan JL, Zettler-Segal M, Block M, McClelland M, Schulberg HC. Recognition of alcoholism and substance abuse in primary care patients. Arch Intern Med. 1987;147:349–352
  7. Rydon P, Redman S, Sanson-Fisher RW, Reid ALA. Detection of alcohol-related problems in general practice. J Stud Alcohol. 1992;53:197–202
  8. Beresford TP, Blow FC, Hill E, Lucey MR. Comparison of CAGE questionnaire and computer-assisted laboratory profiles in screening for covert alcoholism. Lancet. 1990;336:482–485
  9. Isaacson JH, Butler R, Zacharek M, Tzelepis A. Screening with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) in an inner-city population. J Gen Intern Med. 1994;9:550–553
  10. Schmidt A, Barry KL, Fleming MF. Detection of problem drinkers (The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT)). South Med J. 1995;88:52–59
  11. Yersin B. Alcoholism in hospitalized patients in Switzerland. JAMA. 1989;262:772
  12. Ewing JA. Detecting alcoholism (The CAGE questionnaire). JAMA. 1984;252:1905–1907
  13. Mayfield D, McLeod G, Hall P. The CAGE Questionnaire (Validation of a New Alcoholism Screening Instrument). Am J Psychiatry. 1974;131:1121–1123
  14. Rumpf H-J, Hapke U, Hill A, John U. Development of a screening questionnaire for the general hospital and general practices. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 1997;21:894–898
  15. Selzer ML. The Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (The quest for a new diagnostic instrument). Am J Psychiatry. 1971;127:1653–1658
  16. WHO. Schedules for clinical assessment in neuropsychiatry. World Health Organization, Division of Mental Health 1992.
  17. American Psychiatric Association, ed. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fourth edition, international version. American Psychiatric Association, 1995.
  18. WHO. Tenth revision of the International Classification of Diseases, Chapter V (F), mental and behavioural disorders. World Health Organization 1991.
  19. Selzer ML, Vinokur A, Rooijen MA. A self-administered Short Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (SMAST). J Stud Alcohol. 1975;36:117–126
  20. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. American Psychiatric Association 1987.
  21. Hill A, Rumpf H-J, Hapke U, Driessen M, John U. Prevalence of alcohol dependence and abuse in general practice in Germany - a representative study. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 1998;22:935–940
  22. Rumpf H-J, Hapke U, John U. Previous help seeking and motivation to change drinking behavior in alcohol dependent general hospital patients. Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 1998;20:115–119
  23. Rumpf H-J, Hapke U, Meyer C, John U. Motivation to change drinking behavior (Comparison of alcohol-dependent individuals in a general hospital and a general population sample). Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 1999;21:348–353
  24. Hopkins TB, Zarro VJ, McCarter TG. The adequacy of screening, documenting, and treating the diseases of substance abuse. J Addict Dis. 1994;13:81–87

PII: S0163-8343(01)00134-7

General Hospital Psychiatry
Volume 23, Issue 3 , Pages 133-137 , May 2001

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