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Introduction: The aim of this study was to test whether brief alcohol interventions at general hospitals work equally well for males and females and across age-groups.
Methods: The current study includes a reanalysis of data reported in the PECO study (testing delivery channels of individualized motivationally tailored alcohol interventions among general hospital patients: in PErson vs. COmputer-based) and is therefore of exploratory nature. At-risk drinking general hospital patients aged 18–64 years (N = 961) were randomized to in-person counseling, computer-generated individualized feedback letters, or assessment only. Both interventions were delivered on the ward and 1 and 3 months later. Follow-ups were conducted at months 6, 12, 18, and 24. The outcome was grams of alcohol/day. Study group × sex and study group × age interactions were tested as predictors of change in grams of alcohol/day over 24 months in latent growth models. If rescaled likelihood ratio tests indicated improved model fit due to the inclusion of interactions, moderator level-specific net changes were calculated.
Results: Model fit was not significantly improved due to the inclusion of interaction terms between study group and sex (χ2[6] = 5.9, p = 0.439) or age (χ2[6] = 5.5, p = 0.485).
Discussion: Both in-person counseling and computer-generated feedback letters may work equally well among males and females as well as among different age-groups. Therefore, widespread delivery of brief alcohol interventions at general hospitals may be unlikely to widen sex and age inequalities in alcohol-related harm.
This study investigated whether tobacco smoking affected outcomes of brief alcohol interventions (BAIs) in at-risk alcohol-drinking general hospital patients. Between 2011 and 2012 among patients aged 18–64 years, 961 patients were allocated to in-person counseling (PE), computer-based BAI containing computer-generated individual feedback letters (CO), and assessment only. PE and CO included contacts at baseline, 1, and 3 months. After 6, 12, 18, and 24 months, self-reported reduction of alcohol use per day was assessed as an outcome. By using latent growth curve models, self-reported smoking status, and number of cigarettes per day were tested as moderators. In PE and CO, alcohol use was reduced independently of smoking status (IRRs ≤ 0.61, ps < 0.005). At month 24, neither smoking status nor number of cigarettes per day moderated the efficacy of PE (IRR = 0.69, ps > 0.05) and CO (IRR = 0.85, ps > 0.05). Up to month 12, among persons smoking ≤ 19 cigarettes per day, the efficacy of CO increased with an increasing number of cigarettes (ps < 0.05). After 24 months, the efficacy of PE and CO that have been shown to reduce drinking did not differ by smoking status or number of cigarettes per day. Findings indicate that efficacy may differ by the number of cigarettes in the short term.
Little is known about the (co-)occurrence of smoking, alcohol at-risk drinking, physical inactivity and overweight, and the motivation to change these behavioral health risk factors (HRFs) in older general hospital patients with cardiovascular disease. Between October and December 2016, all consecutively admitted patients aged 50 to 79 years were proactively recruited on 3 cardiology wards and asked to participate in a survey on HRFs and behavior change motivation. Of the eligible patients, 80.4% participated in the survey (n = 328). The mean age was 66.5 years (standard deviation 9.0), and 65.5% were male. At least 1 HRF was present in 91.8% (n = 280), at least 2 HRFs in 54.4% (n = 166), and 3 or 4 HRFs in 12.1% (n = 37) of participants. The proportion of older adults who contemplated or were changing or planning to change their behavior to meet health behavior recommendations ranged between 66.0% (smoking) and 93.2% (alcohol consumption). The results indicate a notable co-occurrence of behavioral HRFs in older patients with cardiovascular disease. The majority of older adults were at least considering changing the respective behavior. To prevent and treat diseases efficiently, hospitalization may be a suitable moment for systematic multiple HRF screening and intervention.