• Shahram Lotfipour, Victor Cisneros, Craig L Anderson, Samer Roumani, Wirachin Hoonpongsimanont, Jie Weiss, Bharath Chakravarthy, Brad Dykzeul, and Federico Vaca.
• Center for Trauma and Injury Prevention Research, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, Orange, CA 92868, USA. shl@uci.edu
• Subst Abus. 2013 Jan 1;34(2):155-61.

ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to assess drinking patterns of Spanish-speaking patients using a bilingual computerized alcohol screening and brief intervention (CASI) tablet computer equipped with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT).MethodsThis retrospective study was conducted in a tertiary university hospital emergency department (ED) between 2006 and 2010. Data from 1816 Spanish-speaking ED patients were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the chi-square test for independence, and the Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test for comparisons using quantitative variables.ResultsOverall, 15% of Spanish-speaking patients were at-risk drinkers, and 5% had an AUDIT score consistent with alcohol dependency (≥20). A higher percentage of Spanish-speaking males than females were at-risk drinkers or likely dependent. Spanish-speaking males exhibited higher frequency of drinking days per week and higher number of drinks per day compared with females. Among older patients, nondrinking behavior increased and at-risk drinkers decreased. The majority of males and females were ready to change their behavior after the CASI intervention; 61% and 69%, respectively, scored 8-10.ConclusionsThis study indicated that CASI was an effective tool for detecting at-risk and likely dependent drinking behavior in Spanish-speaking ED patients. The majority of patients were ready to change their drinking behavior. More alcohol screening and brief intervention tools should be tested and become readily accessible for Spanish-speaking patients.

20 keywords...

hide…