News Release

Smokers, binge drinkers aren’t getting physicians’ advice

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Center for Advancing Health

About 2 million smokers and 2 million binge drinkers who visited their doctors for a routine checkup in 1996-1997 did not get any advice on quitting smoking or using alcohol, a new study estimates.

The numbers are disappointing, say Clark H. Denny, Ph.D., of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and colleagues, “because both brief counseling by health professionals for smoking cessation and reduction of alcohol use among problem drinkers have been shown to be effective.”

Electronic reminders, chart stickers and similar office strategies could boost the prevalence of smoking and drinking interventions, they suggest.

Denny and colleagues analyzed data from a 10-state random telephone survey to determine whether doctors were talking to smokers and binge drinkers about their risky health behaviors. Of the 4,857 individuals who had a routine checkup in the 12 months before the survey, 70 percent of smokers said their doctors advised them to quit, while only 23 percent of binge drinkers said their doctors discussed alcohol use with them.

Extrapolating from the survey data, the researchers estimated that 1.915 million smokers and 2.269 million binge drinkers in these states did not receive any intervention by a health professional.

Women and older individuals were more likely to be advised to quit smoking, while men and black binge drinkers were more likely to get advice on alcohol use during their checkups. Denny and colleagues suggest that women and the elderly may have had more medical visits within the year and were exposed to more intervention opportunities as a consequence.

The researchers are uncertain why smokers received more attention, but they note that doctors may worry more about the burden of disease that comes with smoking and feel that there are clear-cut goals that they can suggest to smokers.

Tobacco and alcohol are the first and third avoidable causes of death in the United States, accounting for approximately 430,000 and 100,000 deaths respectively in 1990.

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The study appears in the January issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

By Becky Ham, Staff Writer

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Health Behavior News Service: (202) 387-2829 or www.hbns.org.
Interviews: Contact Mary Kay Sones, (770) 488-5131 or msones@cdc.gov.
American Journal of Preventive Medicine: Contact the editorial office at (619) 594-7344.


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