Detecting excessive drinking among admissions to a general hospital

A questionnaire combining items on alcohol consumption with the four CAGE questions was used by 27 housemen to detect abnormal drinking among 520 patients of all specialties admitted to a general hospital. 15.6--23.2% of patients were classified as abnormal drinkers with the largest proportions occurring among the emergency surgical, orthopaedic, psychiatric and medical patients. 95% of the abnormal drinkers were detected by the questions on consumption alone, while 22 of the 28 patients who were identified by both the consumption and CAGE questions had been admitted as a direct result of alcohol abuse. With the aid of simple questionnaire and some encouragement, junior medical staff can become quite adept at detecting abnormal drinkers in the course of their routine practice.