Screening and intervention for excessive drinking produce small results

It is reasonable to consider screening for excessive alcohol consumption if time and circumstances permit, realizing the ultimate benefit will be extremely small.

Overall, if a practitioner screens 1000 patients, carries out further assessment in 90 (9%) who screen positive, and gives feedback, information, and advice to the 25 (2.5%) who qualify for brief intervention, 2 or 3 patients can be expected to have reduced their alcohol consumption to below recommended maximum levels after 12 months. This results in a number needed to screen with outcome measured at 1 year (NNS₁) of 500. To put this in perspective, the NNS₅ (to prevent 1 death in 5 years) for dyslipidemia is 418; for hypertension, 274–1307; for hemoccult testing, 1374; for mammography in those aged 50–59 years, 2451.

It is reasonable to consider screening for excessive alcohol consumption if time and circumstances permit, realizing the ultimate benefit will be extremely small.

Overall, if a practitioner screens 1000 patients, carries out further assessment in 90 (9%) who screen positive, and gives feedback, information, and advice to the 25 (2.5%) who qualify for brief intervention, 2 or 3 patients can be expected to have reduced their alcohol consumption to below recommended maximum levels after 12 months. This results in a number needed to screen with outcome measured at 1 year (NNS₁) of 500. To put this in perspective, the NNS₅ (to prevent 1 death in 5 years) for dyslipidemia is 418; for hypertension, 274–1307; for hemoccult testing, 1374; for mammography in those aged 50–59 years, 2451.

It is reasonable to consider screening for excessive alcohol consumption if time and circumstances permit, realizing the ultimate benefit will be extremely small.

Overall, if a practitioner screens 1000 patients, carries out further assessment in 90 (9%) who screen positive, and gives feedback, information, and advice to the 25 (2.5%) who qualify for brief intervention, 2 or 3 patients can be expected to have reduced their alcohol consumption to below recommended maximum levels after 12 months. This results in a number needed to screen with outcome measured at 1 year (NNS₁) of 500. To put this in perspective, the NNS₅ (to prevent 1 death in 5 years) for dyslipidemia is 418; for hypertension, 274–1307; for hemoccult testing, 1374; for mammography in those aged 50–59 years, 2451.