Comparison of brief interventions in primary care on smoking and alcohol consumption in England

Abstract

Background:English clinical guidelines recommend regularly offering brief advice on smoking and alcohol consumption in primary care but incentives for doing so vary between the behaviours. This raises the question as to whether offering advice also varies between the behaviours. Methods:Cross-sectional household surveys of 15252 adults in England during 2014. Recall of brief interventions on smoking and alcohol in the past year, socio-demographics, and smoking and alcohol consumption were assessed among smokers and excessive drinkers (AUDIT≥8) who visited their GP surgery in the past year. Findings:Of 1775 smokers, 50.4% (95%CI=48.0-52.8) recalled having received brief advice on smoking. Smokers receiving advice were more likely to be older, female, to have a disability, more past-year quit attempts, greater nicotine dependence and post 16 qualifications. Of 1110 excessive drinkers, 6.5% (95%CI=5.1-7.9) recalled having received advice on their alcohol consumption. Those receiving advice had higher AUDIT scores and were more likely to be male. Discussion:Whereas approximately half of smokers in England visiting their GP in the past year recall receiving advice on cessation, less than 10% of excessive drinkers recall receiving advice on alcohol consumption.