Dear HIFA colleagues,
In my message yesterday I introduced the first part of this discussion: How can we define alcohol use disorders? There are more questions than answers and I invite your comments:
https://www.hifa.org/dgroups-rss/alcohol-use-disorders-117-q5-how-can-we...
I now introduce the second part: How can we measure alcohol use disorders?
There are at least two ways of approaching this question: at the population level and at the individual clinical level.
At the population level WHO estimates that there are 280 million people living with alcohol use disorders worldwide. To make sense of this number, we need clarification of how WHO defines 'alcohol use disorder', so this links closely to our previous question. Can anyone help?
At the individual clinical level, we have the AUDIT toll which was developed by WHO. AUDIT stands for Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. The original tool was developed by WHO
Alongside with the companion publication on the AUDIT, WHO has also produced a manual to aid primary health care workers in administering brief interventions to persons whose alcohol consumption has become hazardous or harmful to their health. Together, these manuals describe a comprehensive approach to alcohol screening and brief intervention (SBI) that is designed to improve the health of the population and patient groups as well as individuals.
Here is a description from the 2001 Guidelines for Primary Care: 'The AUDIT was developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a simple method of screening for excessive drinking and to assist in brief assessment. It can help in identifying excessive drinking as the cause of the presenting illness. It also provides a framework for intervention to help hazardous and harmful drinkers reduce or cease alcohol consumption and thereby avoid the harmful consequences of their drinking. The first edition of this manual was published in 1989 (Document No. WHO/MNH/DAT/89.4) and was subsequently updated in 1992 (WHO/PSA/92.4). Since that time it has enjoyed widespread use by both health workers and alcohol researchers. With the growing use of alcohol screening and the international popularity of the AUDIT, there was a need to revise the manual to take into account advances in research and clinical experience.' https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-MSD-MSB-01.6a
'Alongside with the companion publication on the AUDIT, WHO has also produced a manual to aid primary health care workers in administering brief interventions to persons whose alcohol consumption has become hazardous or harmful to their health. Together, these manuals describe a comprehensive approach to alcohol screening and brief intervention (SBI) that is designed to improve the health of the population and patient groups as well as individuals.' https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-MSD-MSB-01.6a
This is freely available here:
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/brief-intervention-for-hazardous...(audit)
I would like to invite HIFA members to share their experience of using AUDIT and the WHO publications mentioned above. What other guidance are you aware of to help identify and manage people with Alcohol Use Disorders? Is the information you need readily available?
Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org
