New Alcohol Screening Guide Will Help Clinicians Identify Underage Drinkers
Released: Friday, Oct. 14
BOSTON – The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health, has released a new guide to help health care professionals identify youth at risk for alcohol-related problems. "Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention for Youth: A Practitioner's Guide," was produced in collaboration with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), clinical researchers, and health practitioners. It will be introduced at the AAP National Conference & Exhibition Oct. 15-18 in Boston.
Research has shown that over the course of adolescence, the proportion of kids who drink increases dramatically, from 7 percent of 12-year-olds to nearly 70 percent of 18-year-olds. Underage drinking is associated with many adverse outcomes, ranging from academic and social problems, injuries and death in the short term, to increased risk for alcohol dependence as well as functional and structural changes in the brain in the long term.
"Clinicians who care for young people are well aware of the harm caused by underage drinking," said Sharon Levy, MD, MPH, FAAP, a member of the AAP Committee on Substance Abuse. "We believe that this valuable new resource will enable pediatricians and other clinicians who care for young people to easily incorporate alcohol screening across the care spectrum, from annual visits to urgent care."
To develop the shortest possible screening tool with the strongest evidence for predicting current and future alcohol problems in youth, NIAAA convened a working group of researchers to conduct extensive analyses of underage drinking. Their analyses indicated that an extremely effective alcohol screening can be done with just two questions, one that asks about friends' drinking, and another that asks about personal drinking frequency.
Copies of "Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention for Youth: A Practitioner's Guide" will be available in the AAP Resource Center in the Exhibit Hall of the Boston Convention Center during NCE. Print copies also can be ordered from NIAAA at 301-443-3860 or online at www.niaaa.nih.gov. The Guide also may be downloaded from the NIAAA website.
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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 60,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults. For more information, visit www.aap.org.
