Long-term effect of brief intervention in at-risk alcohol drinkers: a 9-year follow-up study.
Abstract
Aims In 1986, 338 men and women attending a general population screening study were identified as at-risk alcohol drinkers and randomly assigned into three groups. Two groups received slightly different, brief interventions; a third group served as control. After 1 year there was a 50% reduction in alcohol intake in the intervention groups and a 20% increase in the control group. Controls then received advice to reduce their drinking. This study evaluates outcomes 9 years after these interventions. Methods In a survey in the same city in 1995 (over 27 000 participants), 247 subjects (73.1%) from the 1986 study, were re-assessed. Serum gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) was examined and compared with values in 1986. A 'pseudo-control' group was established to compare 'treated' and 'untreated'. Results After 9 years, the original study groups displayed significant mean reduction in GGT. The reductions achieved in the three groups did not significantly differ from each other. However, the reductions were significantly greater than that in the 'pseudo-control' group. Conclusion The impact of brief intervention appears to be long lasting. At 9 years follow-up, the at-risk drinkers displayed GGT values close to that of the background population.
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Prior work indicates that brief interventions lower drinking and improve outcomes in people with hazardous or harmful alcohol use.
“Brief interventions (BI) have been shown to reduce alcohol use and improve outcomes in Hazardous and Harmful (HH) drinkers but evidence to support their use in emergency department (ED) patients is limited.”
From A Brief Intervention Reduces Hazardous and Harmful Drinking in Emergency Department Patients (2012) · cites this paper as [16]
Cites
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 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Reviews have highlighted the importance of early identification of alcohol risk drinkers and the effectiveness of a subsequent brief intervention (Saunders and Conigrave, 1990; Bien et al., 1993).”
BackgroundWutzke, S. E., Conigrave, K. M., Saunders, J. B., & Hall, W. D. (2002) · Addiction · doi:10.1046/j.1360-0443.2002.00080.x · Cited by 135 · see citing works
Managing alcohol problems in general practice.
Anderson, P. (1985) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.290.6485.1873 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
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A Brief Intervention Reduces Hazardous and Harmful Drinking in Emergency Department Patients
D'Onofrio, G., Fiellin, D. A., Pantalon, M. V., Chawarski, M. C., Owens, P. H., Degutis, L. C., Busch, S. H., Bernstein, S. L., & O'Connor, P. G. (2012) · Annals of Emergency Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.annemergmed.2012.02.006 · Cited by 207 · see citing works
- Authors
- NILSSEN, O.
- Affiliations
- UiT The Arctic University of Norway (NO)
- Corresponding author
- NILSSEN, ODD
- Venue
- Alcohol and Alcoholism
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2004-09-20
- Volume
- 39
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 548-551
- ISSN
- 0735-0414 (ISSN-L)
- 1464-3502
- OpenAlex
- W2007948694
- Cited by
- 29
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2018: 2 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 1 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 1.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Alcohol and Alcoholism (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- 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 intervention, long-term follow-up, alcohol consumption reduction, gamma-glutamyl transferase, alcoholic liver disease, alcohol screening, sustained intervention effects
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Alcohol Drinking, Alcoholism, Female, Follow-Up Studies, gamma-Glutamyltransferase, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Norway, Risk Factors, Chi-Square Distribution, Treatment Outcome
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