TBA (22W149)

Asking All About Alcohol; Patterns Of Alcohol Consumption In An Irish Hepatology Outpatient Setting And The Correlation With History And PEth Testing

Author(s)

Dr Aoife Moriarty, Dr Paul Armstrong, Ms Caroline Walsh, Dr Jennifer Russell, Dr Eleanor Ryan, Prof Stephen Stewart

Department(s)/Institutions

The Liver Centre, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin

Introduction

Alcohol remains a common problem for Irish healthcare with alcohol related hospitalisations costing €1.5 billion a year.

Aims/Background

The aims of this prospective study were to evaluate reliability of alcohol history and patterns of alcohol consumption in new referrals to a specialist liver clinic.

Method

All patients were asked to fill in a questionnaire including basic demographics and alcohol consumption data. A PEth test was also performed.

Results

200 patients were included, 94 females and 106 males with an average age of 50.93 years (+/-14.91 SD). Reference to alcohol history was made in 109 referrals, with units documented in 62% of these referrals. In our clinic, 134 patients reported alcohol consumption. The mean weekly units consumed were 26.03 units (+/-64.24 SD) with a range of 0-546 units/week. Their mean PEth result was 211.57ug/L. There was a strong correlation between GP reported alcohol units consumed and clinic reported units (0.691 Pearson correlation coefficient). A weak correlation was observed between documented units of alcohol consumed and observed PEth test results (0.365 Pearson correlation coefficient). Only 5 patients who reported no alcohol consumption had a positive PEth result, the majority at very low levels. 26% consumed alcohol on 2-4 occasions/month, 24% 2-3/week, and 13% reported daily consumption. Beer was most frequently consumed (39%) followed by a mixture of alcohol (31%). 47% consumed alcohol primarily at home.

Conclusions

Our study shows the importance of documenting an accurate alcohol history and that the routine use of PEth testing in clinic is useful to further evaluate patients who report a history of alcohol consumption.