Brief alcohol interventions and multiple risk factors in primary care

Early identification and intervention of harmful/hazardous drinking in primary care are U.S. healthcare priorities. Traditionally, research has focused on designing interventions for patients in primary care who report hazardous/harmful alcohol use, even though it is likely for a patient to be at risk for multiple problems. This article has three major goals: (1) to present data highlighting the prevalence and co-variation of other risk factors with hazardous/harmful drinking, including data from a small descriptive study; (2) to review the literature on brief alcohol interventions designed to address multiple risk factors; and (3) to provide recommendations for future research. Despite data indicating primary care patients present with multiple risk factors, only a limited number of studies in the literature have investigated brief interventions addressing alcohol use and other risk factors. It is important for future research to expand brief alcohol interventions to include other risk factors as well.