The DOI matches its Crossref record; 89 of the 89 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Effectiveness of brief alcohol interventions in primary care populations
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Many trials reported that brief interventions are effective in reducing excessive drinking. However, some trials have been criticised for being clinically unrepresentative and unable to inform clinical practice. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness of brief intervention, delivered in general practice or based primary care, to reduce alcohol consumption SEARCH STRATEGY: We searched the Cochrane Drug and Alcohol Group specialised register (February 2006), MEDLINE (1966 to February 2006), EMBASE (1980 to February 2006), CINAHL (1982 to February 2006), PsycINFO (1840 to February 2006), Science Citation Index (1970 to February 2006), Social Science Citation Index (1970 to February 2006), Alcohol and Alcohol Problems Science Database (1972 to 2003), reference lists of articles. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials, patients presenting to primary care not specifically for alcohol treatment; brief intervention of up to four sessions. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two authors independently abstracted data and assessed trial quality. Random effects meta-analyses, sub-group, sensitivity analyses, and meta-regression were conducted. MAIN RESULTS: The meta-analysis included 21 RCTs (7,286 participants), showing that participants receiving brief intervention reduced their alcohol consumption compared to the control group (mean difference: -41 grams/week, 95% CI: -57 to -25), although there was substantial heterogeneity between trials (I2 = 52%). Sub-group analysis (8 studies, 2307 participants) confirmed the benefit of brief intervention in men (mean difference: -57 grams/week, 95% CI: -89 to -25, I2 = 56%), but not in women (mean difference: -10 grams/week, 95% CI: -48 to 29, I2 = 45%). Meta-regression showed a non-significant trend of an increased reduction in alcohol consumption of 1.1, 95%CI: -0.05 to 2.2 grams/week, p=0.06, for each extra minute of treatment exposure, but no relationship between the reduction in alcohol consumption and the efficacy score of the trial. Extended intervention when compared with brief intervention was associated with a non-significantly greater reduction in alcohol consumption (mean difference = -28, 95%CI: -62 to 6 grams/week, I2 = 0%) AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Brief interventions consistently produced reductions in alcohol consumption. When data were available by gender, the effect was clear in men at one year of follow up, but unproven in women. Longer duration of counselling probably has little additional effect. The lack of differences in outcomes between efficacy and effectiveness trials suggests that the current literature had clear relevance to routine primary care. Future trials should focus on women and on delineating the most effective components of interventions.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“Screening and brief interventions are effective for reducing alcohol consumption in primary care patients in high-income countries (Kaner et al., 2007), including in young adults (Grossberg et al., 2004; Jonas et al., 2012).”
From Effectiveness of Nurse-Practitioner-Delivered Brief Motivational Intervention for Young Adult Alcohol and Drug Use in Primary Care in South Africa: A Randomized Clinical Trial (2014) · cites this paper as Kaner et al., 2007
In the citing paper
“Existing systematic reviews have found variability in effect by duration of intervention or number of visits, but this has not taken into account differences in content or provider.6–10”
In the citing paper
“The findings suggest that general practitioners may not be the most appropriate vehicle for delivering early intervention with at-risk drinkers.”
From Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment: implications of SAMHSA's SBIRT initiative for substance abuse policy and practice (2017) · cites this paper as [9]
In the citing paper
“Numbers needed to treat (NNT = 5) were comparable to those for face-to-face brief interventions in primary care settings [30].”
From Effectiveness of Guided and Unguided Low-Intensity Internet Interventions for Adult Alcohol Misuse: A Meta-Analysis (2014) · cites this paper as [30]
In the citing paper
“The latter include a Cochrane Collaboration systematic review of 29 primary care trials [30], which reported a significantly reduced weekly consumption of 38 grams at one-year follow-up (see also the study by Jonas and colleagues [15]).”
From Effectiveness of Guided and Unguided Low-Intensity Internet Interventions for Adult Alcohol Misuse: A Meta-Analysis (2014) · cites this paper as [30]
In the citing paper
“The reduction appears lower than those found in analyses of face-to-face brief interventions in primary care.”
From Effectiveness of Guided and Unguided Low-Intensity Internet Interventions for Adult Alcohol Misuse: A Meta-Analysis (2014) · cites this paper as [30]
In the citing paper
“Although the literature is somewhat inconclusive [75], it provides some confirmation for our current findings [30], [68], [76].”
From Effectiveness of Guided and Unguided Low-Intensity Internet Interventions for Adult Alcohol Misuse: A Meta-Analysis (2014) · cites this paper as [30]
In the citing paper
“The current overall effect also compares with meta-analyses of face-to-face primary care samples [3], [30], [67], [68] and of non-clinical samples performing postal self-help interventions based on bibliotherapy [69]–[71]. These studies all showed significant small to moderate effect sizes for curbing alcohol misuse.”
From Effectiveness of Guided and Unguided Low-Intensity Internet Interventions for Adult Alcohol Misuse: A Meta-Analysis (2014) · cites this paper as [30]
In the citing paper
“several studies on face-to-face alcohol interventions in primary care had reported that men were more likely to benefit than women [30], [67].”
From Effectiveness of Guided and Unguided Low-Intensity Internet Interventions for Adult Alcohol Misuse: A Meta-Analysis (2014) · cites this paper as [30]
In the citing paper
“Ample meta-analyses have shown face-to-face screening and brief interventions (SBIs) to be effective [5], particularly in primary care [6] and college settings [7].”
From Effectiveness of E-self-help interventions for curbing adult problem drinking: a meta-analysis (2011) · cites this paper as [6]
Citations
Cites
Measuring inconsistency in meta-analyses
Higgins, J. P. T., Thompson, S. G., Deeks, J. J., & Altman, D. G. (2003) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7414.557 · Cited by 63,139
Meta-analysis in clinical trials
DerSimonian, R., & Laird, N. (1986) · Controlled Clinical Trials · doi:10.1016/0197-2456(86)90046-2 · Cited by 39,552
Quantifying heterogeneity in a meta‐analysis
Higgins, J. P. T., & Thompson, S. G. (2002) · Statistics in Medicine · doi:10.1002/sim.1186 · Cited by 36,763
Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions
Higgins, J. P. T., Green, S., & Ben Van Den, A. (2020) · International Coaching Psychology Review · doi:10.53841/bpsicpr.2020.15.2.123 · Cited by 5,670
Schulz (1995) · doi:10.1001/jama.1995.03520290060030 · Cited by 5,634
Moher, D., Pham, B., Jones, A., Cook, D. J., Jadad, A. R., Moher, M., Tugwell, P., & Klassen, T. P. (1998) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(98)01085-x · Cited by 3,560
Deeks, J. J., Altman, D. G., & Bradburn, M. J. (2001) · Systematic Reviews in Health Care · doi:10.1002/9780470693926.ch15 · Cited by 2,163
Brief interventions for alcohol problems: a review
BIEN, T. H., MILLER, W. R., & TONIGAN, J. S. (1993) · Addiction · doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.1993.tb00820.x · Cited by 1,577
Moyer, A., Finney, J. W., Swearingen, C. E., & Vergun, P. (2002) · Addiction · doi:10.1046/j.1360-0443.2002.00018.x · Cited by 1,092
Alcohol interventions in a trauma center as a means of reducing the risk of injury recurrence
Gentilello, L. M., Rivara, F. P., Donovan, D. M., Jurkovich, G. J., Daranciang, E., Dunn, C. W., Villaveces, A., Copass, M., & Ries, R. R. (1999) · Annals of Surgery · doi:10.1097/00000658-199910000-00003 · Cited by 770
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 14
- Chang, 1997, Women and alcohol abuse in primary care: Identification and intervention, American Journal on Addictions, 6, 183
- Diez, 2002, Brief intervention in Cantabria (Spain) in alcohol related problems, Adicciones, 14, 13
- Huas, 2002, Efficacy of a brief intervention for problematic alcohol users, Rev Pract Med Gen, 16, 1343
- Rodriguez, 2003, Early identification and brief intervention in alcohol-related traffic casualties: preliminary results, Adicciones, 15, 191
- Rodriguez-Martos, 2005, Short-term effectiveness of brief interventions in alcohol-positive traffic casualites, Gaceta Sanitaria, 19, 45
- Fernandez Moral, 2003, Effectiveness of medical counseling for alcoholic patients and patients with excessive alcohol consumption seen in primary care, Atencion Primaria, 31, 146
- Ivanets, 1991, Evaluation of early intervention strategies used in primary health care: a report on the World Health Organization (WHO) Project on Identification and management of alcohol-related problems in primary health care, Alcohol & Alcoholism, Supplement. 1, 489
- Alcohol, 2000, Britain's Ruin: Meeting Government objectives via a national alcohol strategy
- Deeks, 2006, Approximate analyses of cluster-randomized trials for a meta-analysis: Inflating standard errors
- Deeks, 2005, Analysing and presenting results ; Section 8.4.1 What are intention-to-treat analyses?
- Department of Health, 1992, The Health of the Nation: A summary of the strategy for Health in England
- Heather, 1995, Interpreting the evidence on brief interventions for excessive drinkers: the need for caution, Alcohol & Alcoholism, 30, 287
- Matthews, 2000, An introduction to randomized controlled clincial trials
- World Health Organization, 1999, Global Status Report on Alcohol
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 701–765 of 765
(2014) · SUCHT - Zeitschrift für Wissenschaft und Praxis / Journal of Addiction Research and Practice · doi:10.1024/0939-5911.a000303 · Cited by 1
Abayomi, O., & Adelufosi, A. O. (2015) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd011488
Partnership Vroegsignalering Alcohol (2005–2013)
Schippers, G. M., Lemmers, L., & Naaborgh, L. (2011) · Verslaving · doi:10.1007/s12501-011-0025-5
Health checks: Could we be left with a hangover?
Holmes, M., & Waterall, J. (2010) · Practice Nursing · doi:10.12968/pnur.2010.21.2.46459
Kruseman, M., Lamalle, D., Prod'hom, M., Gardiol, S., Rieder, A., & Gaspoz, J. (2011) · Cahiers de Nutrition et de Diététique · doi:10.1016/j.cnd.2011.02.002
Brief Intervention for Illicit Drug Use
Harland, J., HENRY‐EDWARDS, S. M., Gowing, L., & Ali, R. L. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-36391-8_45
The effects of alcohol on dental and systemic health
Lowe, A. (2015) · Dental Nursing · doi:10.12968/denn.2015.11.2.81
Vroegsignalering van alcoholproblemen vanuit de eerstelijns- en publieke gezondheidszorg
Drenthen, T., ten Brinke, D., & Laurant, M. G. H. (2011) · Verslaving · doi:10.1007/s12501-011-0026-4
Alcohol: brief interventions for hazardous drinking and dependency
Tobutt, C. (2015) · British Journal of Mental Health Nursing · doi:10.12968/bjmh.2015.4.2.87
Percentage of Hazardous Drinkers Who Might Be Treated in Primary Care
Edlund, M. J., Booth, B. M., & Tang, L. (2010) · Psychiatric Services · doi:10.1176/appi.ps.61.11.1163
Mdege, N. D. (2015) · White Rose eTheses Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York)
Lopes, J. M. (2009) · Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (Universidade de São Paulo) · doi:10.11606/d.17.2009.tde-19082009-124511
Struzzo, P., Vedova, R. D., Ferrante, D., Freemantle, N., Lygidakis, C., Marcatto, F., Scafato, E., Scafuri, F., Tersar, C., & Wallace, P. (2015) · Addiction Science & Clinical Practice · doi:10.1186/1940-0640-10-s2-o29
Alcohol Brief Intervention for People with Chronic Viral Hepatitis: A Randomised Controlled Trial
Reid, C., Fenech, M., Jones, L. V., Daglish, M. R. C., & Skoien, R. (2016) · Sigma Theta Tau International's 26th International Nursing Research Congress
[The screening test for mitochondrial disease].
Oguro, N., & Momoi, M. Y. (2002) · PubMed
Shu, J. E., Suzuki, J., & Huang, H. Y. (2015) · Psychosomatics · doi:10.1016/j.psym.2015.07.005
Riskanter Konsum älterer Menschen in Privathaushalt und Pflegeheim
Weyerer, S. B., & Schäufele, M. (2014) · NeuroTransmitter · doi:10.1007/s15016-013-0301-1
Röhrig, J., Nafz, M., Strohm, P. C., Bengel, J., Hodel, T., Wahl, S., & Berner, M. (2013) · Der Unfallchirurg
Scharloo, M. (2010) · Bohn Stafleu van Loghum eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-90-313-7820-3_17
Individual interventions to treat obesity
Townsend, N. P., & Scriven, A. (2014) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-7020-4634-6.00005-4
An Evaluation Model for Social Work with Substance Abusers
Kivipelto, M., Kotiranta, T., Kazi, M. A. F., Borg, P., Jauhiainen, T., & Korteniemi, P. (2016) · Open Science Journal · doi:10.23954/osj.v1i3.330
Sartes, L. M. A., Cruvinel, É., & Ferreira, M. L. (2016) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-43172-7_8 · Cited by 1
Assessing and Enhancing Psychosocial Functioning
Coletti, D. J., & Kane, N. S. (2016) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-43827-6_25
Brief Intervention for Risky Alcohol Use: A Critical Analysis
Joseph, J., & Basu, D. (2017) · International Journal of Psychology and Psychoanalysis · doi:10.23937/2572-4037.1510020
Jordan, A. E., Perlman, D. C., Smith, D. J., & Hagan, H. (2018) · Comparative Effectiveness Research · doi:10.2147/cer.s145672
Impact of co-morbidity and adverse lifestyle on complications in elective total knee arthroplasty
Schäfer, C. N., Jørgensen, H. L., Riis, T., & Lauritzen, J. B. (2012) · Clinical Health Promotion - Research and Best Practice for patients staff and community · doi:10.29102/clinhp.12004
Freund, M., Hobden, B., Deeming, S., Noble, N., Bryant, J., & Sanson‐Fisher, R. (2018) · Family Practice · doi:10.1093/fampra/cmy103
State-of-the-Art Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder
Ray, L. A., Hartwell, E. E., Green, R., & Venegas, A. (2018) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-323-54856-4.00008-0
Planning Investment in Alcohol Services
Wolstenholme, E., & McKelvie, D. (2019) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-21878-2_12
Gamblin, D. M., Tobutt, C., & Patton, R. (2020) · Journal of Substance Use · doi:10.1080/14659891.2020.1745311
Diabetes and Addictive Disorders
Balhara, Y. P. S., Bajaj, S., TIWASKAR, M. H., Joshi, A. S., & Deshmukh, V. C. (2019) · Journal of Social Health and Diabetes · doi:10.1055/s-0039-3401980
Traditional treatment strategies for alcoholism and the withdrawal symptoms
Singh, A. (2020) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-819680-9.00004-4
Patients with Substance Use Disorder and Addiction: Acute Pain Including Perioperative Issues
Gilbert, S. E., & Chan, K. Y. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-36391-8_86
National Institute for Health Research (2021) · doi:10.3310/nihropenres.1115148.1
Haley, S. J., Vargens, R. W., Sudré, A. A. D. S., Ferreira, F., Alves, K., de Carvalho, V. A. L., Puig, D. S. N., Athié, K., & Fortes, S. (2021) · International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction · doi:10.1007/s11469-021-00648-2
(2011) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781119961307.refs
Smith, A. F. (2018) · Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature · doi:10.3410/f.734403844.793553496
(2014) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-7020-4634-6.09985-4
Screening, Early Detection and Brief Intervention for Alcohol Use Disorders
Saunders, J. B., & Latt, N. C. (2014) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-88-470-5322-9_106
Self-citationHealth services for health promotion and disease prevention
Smith, J., & Mapstone, J. (2020) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198837206.003.0013
Ewigman, N. (2018) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_2107
Edlund, M. J., Booth, B. M., & Tang, L. (2010) · Psychiatric Services · doi:10.1176/ps.2010.61.11.1163
Women & Substance Misuse: Alcohol & Women's Health in Ireland
(2009) · PsycEXTRA Dataset · doi:10.1037/e536742013-001
Hanlon, C., & Fekadu, A. (2013) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-7020-5101-2.00073-x
Brief Intervention for Illicit Drug Users
Harland, J., Gowing, L., & Ali, R. L. (2014) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-88-470-5322-9_11
Ewigman, N. (2017) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-56782-2_2107-3
Substance Use Disorder - New Research Perspectives in the Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prognosis
Sampedro-Piquero, P., Fernández, R. D. M., & Zancada-Menéndez, C. (2022) · IntechOpen eBooks · doi:10.5772/intechopen.100838
Abstração e formação de imagens na visualização espacial: o espaço 3D e a realidade aumentada
Junqueira, S. M. D. S., Blass, L., Morales, L. S., da Silva, L. P., Capello, L., & Pinheiro, K. W. (2022) · Revista de Educação Matemática · doi:10.37001/remat25269062v19id681 · Cited by 1
Prasad, S., & Gupta, S. K. (2022) · IntechOpen eBooks · doi:10.5772/intechopen.107441
Behandlung von riskantem, schädlichem und abhängigem Alkoholgebrauch
Kiefer, F., Hoffmann, S., Arens, J., Beutel, M., Bilke-Hentsch, O., Bischof, G., Bonnet, U., Bumb, J. M., Demmel, R., Diestelkamp, S., et al. (2022) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-63677-0_3
Staton, C. A., Agnihotri, D., Phillips, A. J., Ngowi, K. M., Huo, L., Boshe, J., Sakita, F. M., Tupetz, A., Suffoletto, B. P., Mmbaga, B. T., et al. (2024) · PLOS Global Public Health · doi:10.1371/journal.pgph.0002717
Agwogie, M. O., Kuester, L. B., Radcliffe, P., Gordon, A. L., Loos, M., & Williams, A. (2024) · medRxiv · doi:10.1101/2024.08.16.24312118
Holloway, A. S., Waller, G., Ferguson, J., Guthrie, V., Smith, J. B., Boyd, J., Mercado, S., Rees, J. M. B., Parker, R. A., Stoddart, A., et al. (2024) · Public Health Research · doi:10.3310/knwt4781
Diestelkamp, S., & Thomasius, R. (2025) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-68635-5_2
Needs Assessment: Young People’s Drug and Alcohol Services in Edinburgh City - Final Report
Dowds, J., Heywood, S., Fitzgerald, N., & Winterbottom, J. (2012) · Stirling Online Research Repository (University of Stirling)
Algumas reflexões sobre consumos de substâncias psicoactivas e comportamentos aditivos na população
de Família, M., & Ribeiro, C. (2011) · Revista Portuguesa de Clínica Geral · doi:10.32385/rpmgf.v27i4.10867
Efficacité de l'entretien motivationnel de groupe dans le trouble de l'usage de l'alcool
Devulder, L. (2021) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/98e3fe90zc29ez4d26z89bczc9e36b7fe3da
Nong, S., Wang, M., & Zhang, C. (2026) · Journal of Gastrointestinal Cancer · doi:10.1007/s12029-026-01609-5
Metadata
- Authors
- Kaner, E. F. S., Dickinson, H. O., Beyer, F. R., Campbell, F., Schlesinger, C., Heather, N., Saunders, J. B., Burnand, B., & Pienaar, E. D.
- Affiliations
- Newcastle University (GB)
- University of Sheffield (GB)
- Prince Charles Hospital (AU)
- Northumbria University (GB)
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CH)
- South African Medical Research Council (ZA)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2007-04-18
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- CD004148-CD004148
- ISSN
- 1361-6137 (ISSN-L)
- 1465-1858
- OpenAlex
- W3162772905
- Cited by
- 746
- References
- 89
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 39 · 2018: 55 · 2017: 65 · 2016: 64 · 2015: 77 · 2014: 56 · 2013: 56 · 2012: 74
- FWCI
- 4.74
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- new_version (2018-02-24)
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- IRIS (submittedVersion)
- SERVAL (Université de Lausanne) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Alcohol Consumption and Health Effects
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
- Keywords
- brief alcohol intervention, excessive drinking, alcohol consumption reduction, primary care, general practice, gender differences, trial heterogeneity, subgroup analysis, meta-regression, alcohol-related hospital admissions, alcohol-related accidents, alcohol-related crime
- MeSH terms
- Alcohol Drinking, Alcoholism, Emergencies, Family Practice, Humans, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
