The Prevalence of Alcohol Problems Amongst In-Patients Referred to the Liaison Psychiatrist

Abstract

Alcohol related problems amongst patients referred to a liaison psychiatric service have been examined in terms of primary diagnosis but the prevalence has not been estimated using screening instruments. The aim of this study was to establish the prevalence of alcohol related problems using the CAGE and brief MAST screening questionnaires together with data on self reported weekly alcohol consumption and ICD10 diagnosis. On a sample of 100 consecutively referred patients with a response rale of over ninety percent we found 34.0% to be positive for “alcoholism” on the CAGE, 25.5% on the MAST and 13.8% to have a diagnosis of alcohol dependence syndrome. The mean self reported weekly alcohol consumption was 28.4 units per week. Excessive alcohol consumption and misuse were much more prevalent in male referrals. We conclude that it would be advantageous for liaison services to work closely with alcohol services.

Key Words:

• Alcohol
• liaison psychiatry
• screening