RICHMOND, Va. -- When you visit your doctor for a routine check-up, you're normally asked a range of questions about your physical and emotional health and wellness. However, a recent VCU research study suggests doctors in Virginia may not be asking their patients about something serious: How much alcohol they drink regularly?
"Unhealthy alcohol use is the fourth leading cause of preventable deaths in the U.S.," said Dr. Alex Krist, a family physician with VCU. "So it's a big deal."
As part of the study, Krist met with different practices across the Commonwealth to understand workflow and how physicians approach asking patients about alcohol.
"Routinely, primary care doctors only screen about 2-5% of their patients for unhealthy alcohol use," Krist said. "So even though it's very easy to do, it's not routinely done."
Screening for risky drinking behaviors and serious drinking patterns normally involves asking patients a few questions, including how many days they drink, how many drinks they may have on average, and if they've ever experienced a binge drinking episode.
Krist said about 20% of Americans will experience unhealthy alcohol use, meaning some doctors may experience risky drinking behaviors themselves, because of how common it is.
"It can be a little difficult to tell someone that they should drink less when you know that maybe you should drink less as well," Krist said.
Krist's team helped train clinicians at 76 practices in Virginia to screen patients correctly and provide brief counseling and resources to those who may benefit.
He said the training is paying off.
"I mean, having a 40% increase in screening in counseling is massive, and across the 76 practices that work with us, this means that another 114,000 people every year will be screened for unhealthy alcohol use, and 5,000 people will get brief interventions and counseling that wouldn't have gotten it," he explained.
Krist suggested patients share their answers honestly with physicians when they are asked about their drinking habits, no matter how uncomfortable it may be.
"By identifying folks who have risky drinking behaviors and getting them to change the amount they drink per day or per week, that actually can prevent people from developing alcohol use disorder, and then, later in life, starting to have the health, the social, the work problems that are associated with more of that alcohol use disorder-type of spectrum of unhealthy alcohol use."
Editor's Note: The original version of this story misspelled Dr. Krist's name. CBS 6 regrets the error.
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