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# Alcohol screening in US health care rarely leads to brief intervention for heavy drinkers
- URL: https://www.coios.me/alcohol-screening-in-us-health-care-rarely-leads-to-brief/
- Published: 2026-10-25T11:49:03.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-26T07:06:26.000Z
- Description: Most US adults in health care were asked about drinking, but only 4% of heavy drinkers reported a brief intervention.
- Author: Daniel Ryan
- Tags: Data, models and systems, Health systems and access, Alcohol and drug use, United States, #peer-reviewed, #refines, #item, #source-2026-10, #score-60

This study traced the alcohol screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment (SBIRT) cascade in 139,532 US adults. It used National Survey on Drug Use and Health data from 2022 to 2024 with multivariable logistic regression. About 81% reported past-year health care use, and 69% of these reported alcohol screening. Only 4% of heavy drinkers reported a brief intervention, against 33% of those with severe alcohol use disorder (AUD). Women were less likely than men to receive brief intervention (marginal prevalence ratio 0.52) or, with AUD, referral (0.62). All cascade steps rest on self-report in a cross-sectional survey.

*Why it is interesting: The cascade shows where alcohol care drops away: screening is common but follow-up is rare. Women, adults aged 50 and over, and Hispanic and Black adults are reached less often at certain steps.*

Source

[Addiction, 24 October 2026](https://doi.org/10.1111/add.70683?ref=coios.me)

Paper

Alcohol use screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment cascade of care in the USA: Variation by alcohol use and socio-demographic characteristics

Authors

Barbosa C, Dowd W, Borja IR, Blakey SM, Delk J, Cance JD et al.

DOI

10.1111/add.70683

Type

Peer-reviewed article

Design

Cross-sectional analysis of National Survey on Drug Use and Health 2022-2024, n = 139,532 US adults, multivariable logistic regression across five cascade steps

Verdict

Refines prior evidence

Driver

[Health systems and access](https://www.coios.me/d-health-systems/)

Driver

[Alcohol and drug use](https://www.coios.me/d-alcohol-drugs/)

Free full text

[Free to read at the publisher](https://doi.org/10.1111/add.70683?ref=coios.me)