Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Apr;25(4):334-9.
doi: 10.1007/s11606-009-1223-2. Epub 2010 Jan 26.

Do health educator telephone calls reduce at-risk drinking among older adults in primary care?

James C Lin  1 , Mitchell P Karno, Lingqi Tang, Kristen L Barry, Frederic C Blow, James W Davis, Karina D Ramirez, Sandra Welgreen, Marc Hoffing, Alison A Moore
Affiliations

Do health educator telephone calls reduce at-risk drinking among older adults in primary care?

James C Lin et al. J Gen Intern Med. 2010 Apr.

Abstract

Background: Alcohol screening and brief intervention for unhealthy alcohol use has not been consistently delivered in primary care as part of preventive healthcare.

Objective: To explore whether telephone-based intervention delivered by a health educator is efficacious in reducing at-risk drinking among older adults in primary care settings.

Design: Secondary analyses of data from a randomized controlled trial.

Participants: Subjects randomized to the intervention arm of the trial (n = 310).

Interventions: Personalized risk reports, advice from physicians, booklet about alcohol and aging, and up to three telephone calls from a health educator. All interventions were completed before the three-month follow-up.

Measurements: Risk outcomes (at-risk or not at-risk) at 3 and 12 months after enrollment.

Main results: In univariate analyses, compared to those who remained at risk, those who achieved not at-risk outcome at 3 months were more likely to be women, Hispanic or non-white, have lower levels of education, consume less alcohol, drink less frequently, and have lower baseline number of risks. In mixed-effects logistic regression models, completing all three health educator calls increased the odds of achieving not at-risk outcome compared to not completing any calls at 3 months (OR 5.31; 95% CI 1.92-14.7; p = 0.001), but not at 12 months (OR 2.01; 95% CI 0.71-5.67; p = 0.18).

Conclusions: Telephone-based intervention delivered by a health educator was moderately efficacious in reducing at-risk drinking at 3 months after enrollment among older adults receiving a multi-faceted intervention in primary care settings; however, the effect was not sustained at 12 months.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Hanson GR, Li TK. Public health implications of excessive alcohol consumption. JAMA. 2003;289(8):1031–2. doi: 10.1001/jama.289.8.1031. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mehta MM, Moriarty KJ, Proctor D, Bird M, Darling W. Alcohol misuse in older people: heavy consumption and protean presentations. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2006;60(12):1048–1052. doi: 10.1136/jech.2005.043653. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Moore AA, Morgenstern H, Harawa NT, Fielding JE, Higa J, Beck JC. Are older hazardous and harmful drinkers less likely to participate in health-related behaviors and practices as compared with nonhazardous drinkers? J Am Geriatr Soc. 2001;49(4):421–430. doi: 10.1046/j.1532-5415.2001.49086.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Flowers NT, Naimi TS, Brewer RD, Elder RW, Shults RA, Jiles R. Patterns of alcohol consumption and alcohol-impaired driving in the United States. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2008;32(4):639–644. doi: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2008.00622.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mukamal KJ, Mittleman MA, Longstreth WT, Jr, Newman AB, Fried LP, Siscovick DS. Self-reported alcohol consumption and falls in older adults: cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of the cardiovascular health study. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2004;52(7):1174–9. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2004.52318.x. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types