Effects of gender on documentation of alcohol use in patients with psychiatric symptoms¹

Excerpts of this data were presented at the Third Primary Care Research Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, January 1993.

Depression, anxiety, and insomnia are common symptoms evaluated in primary care practice that may be associated with substance use disorders or high‐risk substance use. Our objective was to examine the frequency of documentation of alcohol use as a component of the assessment of patients diagnosed with depression, anxiety, or insomnia and to examine the effect of patient gender on the rates of documentation of alcohol use. Records of 257 patients were reviewed; patients’ average age was 43; 79.8% were female; and 54% were smokers. Thirty‐six percent of patients had current alcohol use documented as a component of the assessment; women were half as likely as men to have their use documented. In a multivariate analysis, patient age (OR, 2.1; CI 1.2 to 3.5) and a history of substance abuse (OR, 2.5; CI, 1.4 to 4.9), not patient or physician gender, were associated with increased likelihood of documentation of alcohol use during the assessment of psychiatric symptoms.

Key words:

• alcohol
• gender
• primary health care
• psychiatric symptoms

Notes

Excerpts of this data were presented at the Third Primary Care Research Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, January 1993.

Department of Family Medicine, Brown University/Memorial Hospital, Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

To whom correspondence should be addressed at Brown University/Memorial Hospital, Department of Family Medicine, 111 Brewster Street, Pawtucket, Rhode Island 02860.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alicia D. Monroe

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