Editorial: brief interventions for risky drinkers

Abstract

Alcohol consumption is a wholly or contributory cause for more than 200 diseases, injuries, and other health conditions with three-digit ICD-10 codes ( 1). Globally, alcohol is the fifth most important risk factor for ill-health and premature death (2). Risky alcohol use can be defined as a quantity or pattern of alcohol use that places individuals at risk for adverse health and social outcomes (3). Harmful use, in turn, can be defined as alcohol use that results in physical, psychological, or social harm (3). Using a threshold of an average of 60 g of alcohol/day for a man and 40 g/day for a woman (4), about one in four Europeans aged 15-64 years use alcohol in a risky fashion (5). And, using a threshold of an average of 100 g of alcohol/day for a man and 60 g/day for a woman, about one in eight of Europeans aged 15-64 years use alcohol in a harmful fashion (5). Harmful use causes comorbid illnesses such as liver disease, depression, and raised blood pressure (6). Risky and harmful alcohol use and their comorbid illnesses are frequently detected in primary health care, emergency departments, and other non-specialized clinical settings. Brief advice emerged in the 1980s (7-9) and progressed during the three following decades as a strategy to reduce risky and harmful alcohol use in non-specialized clinical settings (10). This article provides an update of the state-of-the art of brief advice.