More than three times as many Indigenous Australian clients at risk from drinking could be supported if clinicians used AUDIT-C instead of unstructured assessments

Journal article


Conigrave, James, Lee, K. S. Kylie, Haber, Paul, Vnuk, Julia, Doyle, Michael and Conigrave, Kate. (2022). More than three times as many Indigenous Australian clients at risk from drinking could be supported if clinicians used AUDIT-C instead of unstructured assessments. Addiction Science and Clinical Practice. 17(1), p. Article 23. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13722-022-00306-5
AuthorsConigrave, James, Lee, K. S. Kylie, Haber, Paul, Vnuk, Julia, Doyle, Michael and Conigrave, Kate
Abstract

Background
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (‘Indigenous’) Australians experience a greater burden of disease from alcohol consumption than non-Indigenous peoples. Brief interventions can help people reduce their consumption, but people drinking at risky levels must first be detected. Valid screening tools (e.g., AUDIT-C) can help clinicians identify at-risk individuals, but clinicians also make unstructured assessments. We aimed to determine how frequently clinicians make unstructured risk assessments and use AUDIT-C with Indigenous Australian clients. We also aimed to determine the accuracy of unstructured drinking risk assessments relative to AUDIT-C screening. Finally, we aimed to explore whether client demographics influence unstructured drinking risk assessments.

Methods
We performed cross-sectional analysis of a large clinical dataset provided by 22 Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services in Australia. We examined instances where clients were screened with unstructured assessments and with AUDIT-C within the same two-monthly period. This aggregated data included 9884 observations. We compared the accuracy of unstructured risk assessments against AUDIT-C using multi-level sensitivity and specificity analysis. We used multi-level logistic regression to identify demographic factors that predict risk status in unstructured assessments while controlling for AUDIT-C score.

Results
The primary variables were AUDIT-C score and unstructured drinking risk assessment; demographic covariates were client age and gender, and service remoteness. Clinicians made unstructured drinking risk assessments more frequently than they used AUDIT-C (17.11% and 10.85% of clinical sessions respectively). Where both measures were recorded within the same two-month period, AUDIT-C classified more clients as at risk from alcohol consumption than unstructured assessments. When using unstructured assessments, clinicians only identified approximately one third of clients drinking at risky levels based on their AUDIT-C score (sensitivity = 33.59% [95% CI 22.03, 47.52], specificity = 99.35% [95% CI 98.74, 99.67]). Controlling for AUDIT-C results and demographics (gender and service remoteness), clinicians using unstructured drinking risk assessments were more likely to classify older clients as being at risk from alcohol consumption than younger clients.

Conclusions
Evidence-based screening tools like AUDIT-C can help clinicians ensure that Indigenous Australian clients (and their families and communities) who are at risk from alcohol consumption are better detected and supported.

Keywordsunstructured drinking risk; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander; alcohol consumption; AUDIT-C; Australia; screening
Year2022
JournalAddiction Science and Clinical Practice
Journal citation17 (1), p. Article 23
PublisherBioMed Central
ISSN1940-0632
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1186/s13722-022-00306-5
PubMed ID35382880
Scopus EID2-s2.0-85127653958
PubMed Central IDPMC8981780
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
Page range1-11
FunderNational Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), Australian Government
Publisher's version
License
File Access Level
Open
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Print05 Apr 2022
Publication process dates
Accepted24 Mar 2022
Deposited05 Jul 2023
Grant ID1105339
1117198
1117582
1155320
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