Alcohol and Alcoholism Advance Access originally published online on August 19, 2009
Alcohol and Alcoholism 2009 44(5):486-490; doi:10.1093/alcalc/agp031
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Severity of Baseline Alcohol Use as a Moderator of Brief Interventions in the Emergency Department
1 Department of Veterans Affairs, Health Services Research & Development, 2215 Fuller Road (11H), Ann Arbor, MI 48105, USA
2 Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, 4250 Plymouth Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
3 Department of Emergency Medicine, and the School of Public Health, University of Michigan, 300 North Ingalls Street, Ann Arbor 48109, USA
* Corresponding author: Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, 4250 Plymouth Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. Tel: +1-734-232-0404; Fax: +1-734-615-8739; E-mail: fredblow{at}umich.edu
Received 7 November 2008; first review notified 4 February 2009; in revised form 27 March 2009; accepted 4 May 2009; advance access publication 19 August 2009
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Abstract |
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Aims: This study examines whether the severity of baseline alcohol consumption/consequences moderates the effect of an alcohol brief intervention (BI) in the emergency department (ED). Methods: Injured patients (N = 494) were recruited from an ED, randomly assigned to receive brief advice or not and completed a 12-month follow-up interview. Results: A significant interaction was found between severity of baseline alcohol consumption (i.e. average weekly, binge drinking) and receipt of a BI on alcohol consumption at 12 months. The form of this interaction indicates that the BI group tended to report lower alcohol consumption at follow-up than the untreated group especially in those who had reported high baseline consumption. Severity of alcohol consequences at baseline did not significantly impact the effect of the BI on 12-month outcomes. Conclusion: ED patients with higher alcohol consumption benefit from BI. In some cases, the BI's effects may be enhanced for patients who are heavier drinkers, perhaps due to a greater opportunity to develop a discrepancy between current behavior and future goals.