Problems related to alcohol consumption in primary health care: prevalence and clinical profile

The objective of this study was to discover the medical prevalence of alcoholism in our primary care centres, the sociodemographic and clinical profile of these patients and their use of medical resources at our level of health care. The study was an observational one of a cross-sectional descriptive nature, and was set in an urban health centre. Six-hundred and ninety-eight patients aged over 15 years were selected randomly from doctors surgeries. The prevalence of alcoholism among the patients participating in our study estimated from the answers to the CAGE questionnaire, was 17.18%. Of the alcoholic patients, 90.7% were male, with a significantly lower average age than the non-alcoholics; diagnosis was more frequent in production workers than in other occupational groups. The alcoholic patients generally drank daily and consumed drinks with a high percentage of alcohol; 74.1% were smokers. The alcoholic patients were more likely to present a history of neoplasms and injuries or adverse effects than the non-alcoholics. There was a higher attendance rate among alcoholic patients who presented more severe symptoms. It was concluded that alcoholism is a highly prevalent health problem at our level of health care, and fundamentally affects young males.