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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Graeme Wilson, Catherine Wray, Dr Ruth McGovernORCiD, Professor Dorothy Newbury-Birch, Emerita Professor Elaine McCollORCiD, Chris Speed, Dr Paul Cassidy, Dr Dave Tomson, Dr Shona Haining, Denise Howel, Professor Eileen KanerORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Background: Many primary care patients with raised blood pressure or depression drink potentially hazardous levels of alcohol. Brief interventions (BI) to reduce alcohol consumption may improve comorbid conditions and reduce the risk of future alcohol problems. However, research has not established their effectiveness in this patient population. This study aimed to establish the feasibility of definitive trials of BI to reduce excessive drinking in primary care patients with hypertension or mild to moderate depression.Methods: Thirteen general practices in North East England were randomized to the intervention or control arm of one of two parallel pilot trials. Adult patients drinking excessively and diagnosed with hypertension or mild to moderate depression received the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) by postal survey. Consenting respondents scoring more than 7 on AUDIT (score range 0 to 40) received brief alcohol consumption advice plus an information leaflet (intervention) or an information leaflet alone (control) with follow-up at six months. Measurements included the numbers of patients eligible, recruited, and retained, and the AUDIT score and systolic/diastolic blood pressure of each patient or the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) score. Acceptability was assessed via practitioner feedback and patient willingness to be screened, recruited, and retained at follow-up.Results: In the hypertension trial, 1709 of 33,813 adult patients (5.1%) were eligible and were surveyed. Among the eligible patients, 468 (27.4%) returned questionnaires; 166 (9.6% of those surveyed) screened positively on AUDIT and 83 (4.8% of those surveyed) were recruited (50.0% of positive screens). Sixty-seven cases (80.7% of recruited patients) completed follow-up at six months. In the depression trial, 1,044 of 73,146 adult patients (1.4%) were eligible and surveyed. Among these eligible patients, 215 (20.6%) responded; 104 (10.0% of those surveyed) screened positively on AUDIT and 29 (2.8% of those surveyed) were recruited (27.9% of positive screens). Nineteen cases (65.5% of recruited patients) completed follow-up at six months.Conclusions: Recruitment and retention rates were higher in the hypertension trial than in the depression trial. A full brief intervention trial appears feasible for primary care patients with hypertension who drink excessively. High AUDIT scores in the depression trial suggest the importance of alcohol intervention in this group. However, future work may require alternative screening and measurement procedures.
Author(s): Wilson GB, Wray C, McGovern R, Newbury-Birch D, McColl E, Crosland A, Speed C, Cassidy P, Tomson D, Haining S, Howel D, Kaner EFS
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Trials
Year: 2014
Volume: 15
Online publication date: 19/06/2014
Acceptance date: 27/05/2014
Date deposited: 01/10/2014
ISSN (electronic): 1745-6215
Publisher: BioMed Central Ltd
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1745-6215-15-235
DOI: 10.1186/1745-6215-15-235
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