Friday, November 21, 2008
Drinking and doctoring
In conjunction with a conference on doctors' health, the new issue of BMJ assesses phyisicians' (sometimes problematic) relationships with alcohol.
Two studies assessed the results of physician-specific substance abuse treatment programs in the U.S. and Canada and concluded that they were fairly successful, since 75% and 85% of the participating docs, respectively, were practicing and staying clean at 5 years. Less happily, the U.S. study found that physicians who didn't complete their treatment programs were much more likely to die (with 6 of the 22 in-treatment deaths caused by suicide) or lose their licenses.
Another study in the issue looked at the potential roots of these substance abuse problems, by analyzing the drinking habits of med students. Although they drink less than their nonmedical peers, U.S. students do find time to knock them back--24% of female and 43% of male students reported excessive drinking in the past month (random fact: non-primary-care-track students drank more than future PCPs).
Why does it matter? The students' habits could have effects on public health as well, the study found. Not surprisingly, the drinkers weren't eager to throw stones in their glass houses and were less likely than non-imbibers to counsel patients about alcohol use. Despite the findings, study authors were pretty moderate in their recommended actions: "Medical schools should consider...discouraging excessive drinking," they concluded. Better get that keg out of the lab.
Labels: alcoholism, medical education
posted by Stacey Butterfield at
9:47 AM
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Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Alcohol use and PTSD in veterans
A new JAMA study says that reservists returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are at increased risk of heavy drinking and binge drinking.
The study found, for reservists who had combat exposures:
Rate of new-onset heavy weekly drinking: 8.8%
Rate of new-onset binge drinking: 25.6%
Rate of new-onset alcohol-related problems: 7.1%
New onset rates for active-duty personnel were 6.0%, 26.6%, and 4.8 percent, respectively.
It's quite possible these soldiers are using alcohol to cope with PTSD or other mental illness, the authors said, as there is a well-established link between the two. We'll discuss what internists can do to spot and treat soldiers with PTSD in the upcoming September cover story of ACP Internist.
Till then, do any of our readers want to share their stories of treating vets from the current war? Have you had many vets as patients? What have been the challenges, and how have you dealt with them?
Labels: alcoholism, mental illness, PTSD
posted by Jessica Berthold at
4:00 PM
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