A survey of alcohol use in an inner-city ambulatory care setting

Objective:To measure the prevalence of current drinking and potential problem drinking in an inner-city ambulatory care setting, using the CAGE questionnaire. Design:Survey of patients attending ambulatory care clinics, using structured personal interviews. Setting:Three ambulatory care clinics serving an indigent, predominantly black population of metropolitan Atlanta: a general medical appointment clinic, a walk-in clinic, and a neighborhood primary care clinic. Patients/participants:Patients over the age of 18 who attended one of the above clinics on a day when interviewers were available and who were estimated to have more than a 45-minute wait prior to seeing their bealth provider. Interventions:None. Measurements and main results:15.3% of subjects had CAGE scores ≥2 (95% CI 12.2, 19.0). A CAGE score of ≥2 was almost three times more common in men than in women, 26.7% vs. 9.5%. Only 8.6% (95% CI 6.3, 11.7) of subjects reported drinking ≥2 drinks per day. These findings suggest that problem drinking may affect as many as one in six people seeking care in inner-city ambulatory care clinics and provide support for the use of screening instruments such as the CAGE questionnaire for improved sensitivity in detecting alcobolism in these practice settings.