A survey of alcohol use in an inner-city ambulatory care setting.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To measure the prevalence of current drinking and potential problem drinking in an inner-city ambulatory care setting, using the CAGE questionnaire. DESIGN: Survey of patients attending ambulatory care clinics, using structured personal interviews. SETTING: Three ambulatory care clinics serving an indigent, predominantly black population of metropolitan Atlanta: a general medical appointment clinic, a walk-in clinic, and a neighborhood primary care clinic. PATIENTS/PARTICIPANTS: Patients over the age of 18 who attended one of the above clinics on a day when interviewers were available and who were estimated to have more than a 45-minute wait prior to seeing their health provider. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: 15.3% of subjects had CAGE scores greater than or equal to 2 (95% CI 12.2, 19.0). A CAGE score of greater than or equal to 2 was almost three times more common in men than in women, 26.7% vs. 9.5%. Only 8.6% (95% CI 6.3, 11.7) of subjects reported drinking greater than or equal to 2 drinks per day. These findings suggest that problem drinking may affect as many as one in six people seeking care in inner-city ambulatory care clinics and provide support for the use of screening instruments such as the CAGE questionnaire for improved sensitivity in detecting alcoholism in these practice settings.