The clinical and cost-effectiveness of brief advice for excessive alcohol consumption among people attending sexual health clinics: a randomised controlled trial
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Objectives To examine the clinical and costeffectiveness
of brief advice for excessive alcohol
consumption among people who attend sexual health
clinics.
Methods Two-arm, parallel group, assessor blind,
pragmatic, randomised controlled trial. 802 people aged
19 years or over who attended one of three sexual
health clinics and were drinking excessively were
randomised to either brief advice or control treatment.
Brief advice consisted of feedback on alcohol and health,
written information and an offer of an appointment with
an Alcohol Health Worker. Control participants received
a leaflet on health and lifestyle. The primary outcome
was mean weekly alcohol consumption during the
previous 90 days measured 6 months after
randomisation. The main secondary outcome was
unprotected sex during this period.
Results Among the 402 randomised to brief advice,
397 (99%) received it. The adjusted mean difference in
alcohol consumption at 6 months was −2.33 units per
week (95% CI −4.69 to 0.03, p=0.053) among those
in the active compared to the control arm of the trial.
Unprotected sex was reported by 154 (53%) of those
who received brief advice, and 178 (59%) controls
(adjusted OR=0.89, 95% CI 0.63 to 1.25, p=0.496).
There were no significant differences in costs between
study groups at 6 months.
Conclusions Introduction of universal screening and
brief advice for excessive alcohol use among people
attending sexual health clinics does not result in
clinically important reductions in alcohol consumption or
provide a cost-effective use of resources.
of brief advice for excessive alcohol
consumption among people who attend sexual health
clinics.
Methods Two-arm, parallel group, assessor blind,
pragmatic, randomised controlled trial. 802 people aged
19 years or over who attended one of three sexual
health clinics and were drinking excessively were
randomised to either brief advice or control treatment.
Brief advice consisted of feedback on alcohol and health,
written information and an offer of an appointment with
an Alcohol Health Worker. Control participants received
a leaflet on health and lifestyle. The primary outcome
was mean weekly alcohol consumption during the
previous 90 days measured 6 months after
randomisation. The main secondary outcome was
unprotected sex during this period.
Results Among the 402 randomised to brief advice,
397 (99%) received it. The adjusted mean difference in
alcohol consumption at 6 months was −2.33 units per
week (95% CI −4.69 to 0.03, p=0.053) among those
in the active compared to the control arm of the trial.
Unprotected sex was reported by 154 (53%) of those
who received brief advice, and 178 (59%) controls
(adjusted OR=0.89, 95% CI 0.63 to 1.25, p=0.496).
There were no significant differences in costs between
study groups at 6 months.
Conclusions Introduction of universal screening and
brief advice for excessive alcohol use among people
attending sexual health clinics does not result in
clinically important reductions in alcohol consumption or
provide a cost-effective use of resources.
Date Issued
2014-06-16
Date Acceptance
2014-06-01
Citation
Sexually Transmitted Infections, 2014, 91 (1), pp.37-43
ISSN
1472-3263
Publisher
BMJ Publishing Group
Start Page
37
End Page
43
Journal / Book Title
Sexually Transmitted Infections
Volume
91
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the
terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 3.0) license, which permits
others to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon this work, for commercial use,
provided the original work is properly cited. See: http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by/3.0/
terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 3.0) license, which permits
others to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon this work, for commercial use,
provided the original work is properly cited. See: http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by/3.0/
License URL
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Infectious Diseases
EMERGENCY-DEPARTMENT
BRIEF INTERVENTION
MISUSING PATIENTS
DRINKING
ACCEPTABILITY
SETTINGS
Publication Status
Published