Jul 07, 2014 11:25 AM EDT By J Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

Two simple questions may be able to identify people with drinking problems, according to a recent study.

Alcohol problems are often undetected in primary care but researchers from the University of Leicester in England found that doctors could quickly uncover which patients have drinking problems -- including patients who would otherwise remain undetected -- by asking them two questions:

1.       How often do you have six or more drinks on one occasion?

2.       As a result of your drinking, did anything happen in the last year that you wish didn't happen?

Patients' answers to these questions could rule out alcohol issues, or could bring to light potentially excessive or unsafe drinking habits.

In the latter case, general practitioners should follow up the short questions with a longer screening test to find out whether the patient is in need of help, researchers said.

"There is great time pressure in primary care. GPs don't have the time to ask a long list of questions for every single patient. The shorter the survey, the more acceptable it is for GP -- but the greater the danger that it is inaccurate," Alex Mitchell, lead author of the study, said in a statement. "Our work shows that asking just two questions to patients works modestly well, but they need to be followed up by a longer questionnaire of four questions in those who initially screen positive."

For the study, Mitchell led a team of researchers who analyzed 17 previous studies into the effectiveness of simple questions to detect alcohol problems involving more than 5,000 individuals seen in primary care.

They found that asking two questions could correctly identify those with alcohol problems in 87.2 percent of cases, and correctly identify those who did not have alcohol problems in 79.8 percent of cases.

For anyone who appears to be at risk based on their responses to the two questions, doctors are recommended to follow up the survey with a longer test which consists of ten questions.

The researchers found that using a combination of a short, two-question test with a longer survey correctly identified patients with alcohol problems in 90.9 percent of all cases.

"At the moment, [health care professionals] ask patients about alcohol problems during about 3 percent of consultations. Routine screening using simple questions are an attempt to improve the situation," Mitchell said. "The evidence suggests that starting with two questions and then proceeding to either the CAGE or AUDIT surveys would be the best way to go."

The findings were recently published in the British Journal of General Practice.

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