Sd. Nielsen et al., PREVALENCE OF ALCOHOL-PROBLEMS AMONG ADULT SOMATIC INPATIENTS OF A COPENHAGEN HOSPITAL, Alcohol and alcoholism, 29(5), 1994, pp. 583-590
The adult patients of somatic departments of a Copenhagen hospital wer
e screened on a randomly selected day during a 14 day period by interv
iewers who examined them using a structured questionnaire regarding li
fe-style. A patient was considered having an alcohol problem if one or
more of the following criteria was fulfilled: (1) a self-reported dai
ly alcohol consumption for at least 2 years of at least 60 g of ethano
l in men and 36 g in women, (2) a Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (
MAST) score of or above 5, (3) an alcohol-related discharge diagnosis.
In total, 692, patients fulfilled the entry criteria, but 181 patient
s (26.2%) had to be excluded owing to predefined exclusion criteria (t
erminal illness, dementia, etc.), and 74 patients (14.5%) refused to p
articipate. Among the 437 interviewed patients, 125 patients (28.6%; 9
5%-confidence limits 24.4-33.1%) fulfilled one or more of the diagnost
ic criteria for an alcohol problem. Only 14 patients (3.2%; 95%-confid
ence limits 1.8-5.3%) had an alcohol-related discharge diagnosis. The
prevalence of patients with alcohol problems was significantly (P < 0.
05) higher among male patients (82 of 171 men (48.0%; 95%-confidence l
imits 40.3-55.7%)) than among female patients (43 of 266 women (16.2%;
95%-confidence limits 12.0-21.2%)). The prevalence of patients with al
cohol problems was 32.4% (95%-condifence limits 25.5-39.8%) in interna
l medicine departments, 28.5% (95%-confidence limits 21.3-36.6%) in su
rgical departments, and of female patients 22.2% (95%-confidence limit
s 13.7-32.8%) in the department of gynaecology and obstetrics.