- WEDNESDAY, July 23 (HealthDay News) — Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are
frequently overlooked in patients undergoing surgery, say German
researchers who studied 1,556 surgical patients.

“First, we noted that AUD is not diagnosed adequately during
preoperative assessment. Then, even if a finding of AUD was made before
surgery, preventive measures were not often undertaken. This is
significant, because patients with AUD have three to four times more
complications during and around the time of surgery than patients without
AUD,” study author Dr. Claudia D. Spies said in a news release issued by
the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

When AUD is properly identified, doctors can begin intervention
strategies.

Spies and colleagues found that most doctors didn't use well-documented
tools for AUD detections, perhaps because the doctors were uncomfortable
asking patients about their alcohol consumption.

“Physicians tend to underestimate and miss AUD in younger patients,
especially young female patients,” Spies said. “Our results emphasize that
the use of computer-based screening methods … applied to every patient,
are effective in addressing these biases.”

The researchers found that when a computerized self-assessment tool
called AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test) was used, more
than twice as many patients with AUD were identified compared to when
doctors used the standard preoperative interview.

This may be due to the fact that many doctors lack training in
preoperative screening for alcohol use and that patients prefer the more
anonymous nature of the computerized self-test.

“Patients seem to be more confident in answering questions about their
alcohol use in a computer-based question-and-answer format,” Spies
said.

The study was published in the current issue of
Anesthesiology.

More information

The American Psychological Association has more about alcohol use disorders.