Regular checkups at the doctor’s generally concentrate on physical symptoms like pain or illness – now experts are recommending that annual visits to the doctor should also serve as a routine check on mental health and risky behaviors such as alcohol misuse.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force examined whether alcohol screening would be advantageous to a person’s overall health. The Task Force found that doctors usually just screen adolescents and not adults, because teens are more at risk of alcohol abuse.

Additionally, they found that if primary care doctors began screening all patients for alcohol consumption, they could provide intervention recommendations.

Alcohol abuse can range from occasional binge drinking to addiction and is the third cause of preventable deaths within the United States. Close to 21% of all adults are estimated to be involved in risk-drinking-behaviors that can lead to mental and physical complications.

Task Force member Sue Curry, Ph.D. said:

“When people misuse alcohol, there can be serious consequences for themselves, their families, and their communities. Alcohol misuse is the cause of tens of thousands of deaths per year in the United States – deaths that could have been prevented. The good news is that primary care professionals can identify adults who engage in risky or hazardous drinking and through brief counseling, help them drink more responsibly.”

The Task Force examined current data, collected between 1985 and 2011 to determine whether intervention during a routine check up would aid in the prevention or reduction of alcohol abuse.

The team also reviewed published reports that studied the effects of alcohol screenings from 2006 to 2011.

The study looked at several different counseling strategies for alcohol usage in pregnant women, adolescents, and adults. The Task Force came up with these final recommendations that were also published in the Annals of Internal Medicine:

  • Primary care doctors should question all adults 18 years of age and older about their drinking habits and offer counseling to those who drink more than they should.
  • Despite risky and dangerous alcohol use among adolescents being a serious problem, there was not sufficient evidence on how to identify teens who abuse alcohol or whether offering teens brief counseling is effective.

The Task Force also made clear that these recommendations require the help of community and school-based organizations – including state and federal agencies – in dealing with this critical public health problem.

Dr. Curry said:

“Unfortunately, risky and hazardous drinking is also a serious problem among adolescents, but we don’t know how to identify teens who may be engaging in risky or hazardous drinking, and we don’t know if brief counseling is effective in helping them to stop. We recognize the critical need for more research on what primary care teams can do to help keep teens safe and sober.”

Last year in the UK, experts explained that excessive alcohol use can cause mouth cancer, and suggested that dentists should be involved in alcohol misuse screening.

Written by Kelly Fitzgerald