Screening and brief intervention for excessive alcohol use: qualitative interview study of the experiences of general practitioners

Thank you for raising this important issue. There was no typing
error, but you are right that moderate drinking has typically been defined
by a maximum weekly consumption measure. Moderation within each drinking
occasion has not been offered the same attention.

Firstly, Danish units are 12 grams of ethanol, and the consumption
mentioned is based on a self-reported weekly summary measure (sum of wine,
beer and spirits), which is not a highly valid measure of the amount of
alcohol actually consumed per unit of time.

Secondly, we used the AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification
Test for identifying) to identify patients drinking in a harmful or
hazardous way. Though AUDIT is not a diagnostic tool (and that some AUDIT-
scores are “false-positive”), the whole idea of screening is to locate
hazardous and harmful drinkers, by asking three questions on current
consumption and seven questions on negative consequences of drinking and
uncontrolled drinking patterns within the last year (or ever in two
questions). Binge drinking and the experienced negative consequences of
being drunk do contribute to the score.

So the excess in question might be occasional (156 grams of pure
alcohol on one occasion might result in a lot of risk or harm) or it might
have happened some time in the near past and caused negative consequences.

Competing interests:  
None declared