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Evidence summaries

Brief Alcohol Interventions in Primary Care Populations

Brief interventions appear to be effective in reducing alcohol consumption in primary or secondary care patients compared with no intervention. Level of evidence: "B"

Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by study limitations (unclear allocation concealment and blinding of outcome assessement in half of the studies).

A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 69 studies with a total of 33 642 subjects. Most interventions were delivered in general practice or emergency care settings. Participants receiving brief intervention reduced their alcohol consumption compared to the control group (mean difference: -20 grams/week; table T1). Sub-group analysis confirmed the benefit of brief intervention both in men and in women. Extended intervention when compared with brief interventionhad no greater reduction in alcohol consumption although findings were imprecise (MD 2 g/week, 95% CI -42 to 45; 3 studies, n=552).

Brief intervention compared to no or minimal intervention for people with hazardous or harmful alcohol consumption

Outcome (at 12 months)Relative effect (95% CI)Risk with controlRisk with Brief intervention (95% CI)of participants (studies) Quality of evidence
Quantity of drinking (g/week)-238 g/weekMD 20.08 g/week lower (28.36 lower to 11.81 lower)15 197 (34)
Frequency of drinking (no. binges/wk)-0.98 binges/weekMD 0.08 binges/week lower (0.14 lower to 0.02 lower)6 946 (15)
Frequency of drinking (no. days drinking/wk)-2.73 drinking days/weekMD 0.13 drinking days/week lower (0.23 lower to 0.04 lower)5 469 (11)
Intensity of drinking (g/drinking day)-55 g/drinking dayMD 0.18 g/drinking day lower (3.09 lower to 2.73 higher)3 128 (10)

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    References

    • Kaner EF, Beyer FR, Muirhead C et al. Effectiveness of brief alcohol interventions in primary care populations. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2018;(2):CD004148.[PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords