RT Book, Section
A1 Mallin, Robert
A1 Porter, Maribeth
A2 South-Paul, Jeannette E.
A2 Matheny, Samuel C.
A2 Lewis, Evelyn L.
SR Print(0)
ID 1106853456
T1 Substance Use Disorders
T2 CURRENT Diagnosis & Treatment: Family Medicine, 4e
YR 2015
FD 2015
PB McGraw-Hill Education
PP New York, NY
SN 9780071827454
LK accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1106853456
RD 2024/04/19
AB The  prevalence  of  alcohol  and  drug  disorders  in  primary  care  outpatients  is  between  23%  and  37%.  Almost  one  third  of  US  adults  meet  the  criteria  for  a  form  of  alcohol  use  disorder  during  some  point  in  their  lives.  The  cost  to  society  of  these  disorders  is  staggering.  Each  year  in  the  United  States  substance  use  disorders  are  associated  with  100,000  deaths  and  costs  of  approximately  $100  billion.  The  high  prevalence  of  these  disorders  in  primary  care  outpatients  suggests  that  family  physicians  are  confronted  with  these  problems  daily.  However,  these  disorders  rarely  present  overtly.  Patients  in  denial  about  the  connection  between  their  substance  use  and  the  consequences  caused  by  it  frequently  minimize  the  amount  of  their  use,  and  they  rarely  seek  assistance  for  their  substance  use  problem.  One  study  exploring  the  care  provided  for  patients  with  alcohol  dependence  found  that  only  11%  of  patients  received  recommended  care  in  the  primary  care  setting.  The  National  Institute  on  Alcohol  Abuse  and  Alcoholism  (NIAAA)  published  a  physician’s  guide,  Helping  Patients  Who  Drink  Too  Much  (http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/guide)  to  help  improve  this  discrepancy  of  care.