Just over half of 10th graders who saw a physician in the past year were asked about their use of alcohol and fewer were counseled about the dangers of alcohol abuse.
Ralph W. Hingson, Sc.D., and his colleagues at the National Institutes of Health surveyed 2,519 10th graders, and found that 36% reported drinking in the past month, 28% reported binge-drinking, and 23% reported drunkenness. More than 1 in 10 said they drank alcohol more than six times in the past month, and about 1 in 20 said they binge-drank in the past month, the researchers found. The study was published Jan. 31 in Pediatrics.
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A study in Pediatrics revealed that physicians fall short in screening teens for alcohol use.
More than 80% of teen respondents said they had seen a doctor in the past year; of those, 54% reported that their physician had asked about drinking. A total of 40% were advised about potential harms from drinking, and 17% were advised to reduce or stop drinking, the study reported. Among those teens who reported frequent binge drinking, only 21% were advised to cut back or stop (Pediatrics 2013;131:249-57).
In comparison, physicians advised 36% of frequent smokers, 27% of frequent marijuana users, and 42% of those who said they used other drugs frequently to reduce or quit those behaviors.
Since it’s illegal to sell alcohol to minors, many physicians may not realize that drinking needs to be explored, Dr. Hingson and colleagues speculated. Even so, teen smoking and drug use also are illegal, and more physicians asked about those problems than asked about drinking.
"Per clinical practice recommendations, alcohol screening should be universal," they wrote. "Patients with unhealthy alcohol use patterns are less likely to be detected when screening is not routine."
The study was funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism; and the Health Resources and Services Administration, with supplemental support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. As federal employees, the authors have no commercial conflicts of interest.