Alcoholism in the families of family practice outpatients

As part of a screening process for alcoholism, 147 patients at a university-based family practice center were each asked to complete two tests: the Michigan Alcohol Screening Test (MAST) concerning themselves and a modified MAST concerning their families. Charts of patients with positive results for family alcoholism were reviewed for presenting complaints, ongoing medical problems, and recognition or mention of family alcoholism by the physician. Over 34 percent (50) of patients had definite alcoholism problems in their families. Women were more likely than men to have a positive family MAST (37.7 percent women vs 24.4 percent men, P less than .001), whereas men were more likely to be alcoholic (34.1 percent men vs 10.4 percent women, P less than .001). Nearly 40 percent of patients with a positive family MAST had complaints that could be attributed to the family disruption of alcoholism, and another 20.8 percent had medical problems that might be exacerbated by stress, but use of alcohol by a family member was mentioned in only 12.5 percent (5/40) of charts reviewed.