The Role of Sex and Age in Moderating the Outcome of In-Person and Computer-Based Brief Alcohol Interventions at General Hospitals: Reanalysis of a Brief Intervention Study.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to test whether brief alcohol interventions at general hospitals work equally well for males and females and across age-groups. METHODS: The current study includes a reanalysis of data reported in the PECO study (testing delivery channels of individualized motivationally tailored alcohol interventions among general hospital patients: in PErson vs. COmputer-based) and is therefore of exploratory nature. At-risk drinking general hospital patients aged 18-64 years (N = 961) were randomized to in-person counseling, computer-generated individualized feedback letters, or assessment only. Both interventions were delivered on the ward and 1 and 3 months later. Follow-ups were conducted at months 6, 12, 18, and 24. The outcome was grams of alcohol/day. Study group × sex and study group × age interactions were tested as predictors of change in grams of alcohol/day over 24 months in latent growth models. If rescaled likelihood ratio tests indicated improved model fit due to the inclusion of interactions, moderator level-specific net changes were calculated. RESULTS: Model fit was not significantly improved due to the inclusion of interaction terms between study group and sex (χ2[6] = 5.9, p = 0.439) or age (χ2[6] = 5.5, p = 0.485). DISCUSSION: Both in-person counseling and computer-generated feedback letters may work equally well among males and females as well as among different age-groups. Therefore, widespread delivery of brief alcohol interventions at general hospitals may be unlikely to widen sex and age inequalities in alcohol-related harm.

Health behaviors of general hospital patients with at-risk alcohol use: Change over two years after discharge.

OBJECTIVE: Little is known about the natural course of health-related behaviors such as tobacco smoking, at-risk alcohol use, vegetable and fruit intake and physical activity in general hospital patients after discharge. The aim was to investigate whether patients identified with at-risk alcohol use change their health-related behaviors over two years. METHODS: Eighteen to 64-year-old patients with at-risk alcohol use were identified through systematic screening as part of a randomized controlled trial. Patients with indication of an alcohol use disorder were excluded. Data of patients who received treatment as usual were analyzed (n = 220). Alcohol use, tobacco smoking, vegetable/ fruit intake, physical activity and body-mass-index were assessed at baseline, after 6, 12, 18, and 24 months. Latent growth models were calculated. RESULTS: Twenty-four months after discharge, participants reported less physical activity (p = .04), a higher body-mass-index (p = .01), no change in vegetable/ fruit intake (p = .11) and smoking status (p = .87), fewer cigarettes per week among smokers (p < .001), and less alcohol use (p < .001) compared to baseline. CONCLUSIONS: The data revealed that patients with at-risk alcohol use increased or did not change energy-balance related behaviors and decreased substance-use related behaviors over 2 years after hospitalization. These findings underline the need of implementing multi-behavioral interventions into routine care.

Proactive automatised lifestyle intervention (PAL) in general hospital patients: study protocol of a single-group trial.

INTRODUCTION: The co-occurrence of health risk behaviours (HRBs, ie, tobacco smoking, at-risk alcohol use, insufficient physical activity and unhealthy diet) increases the risks of cancer, other chronic diseases and mortality more than additively; and applies to more than half of adult general populations. However, preventive measures that target all four HRBs and that reach the majority of the target populations, particularly those persons most in need and hard to reach are scarce. Electronic interventions may help to efficiently address multiple HRBs in healthcare patients. The aim is to investigate the acceptance of a proactive and brief electronic multiple behaviour change intervention among general hospital patients with regard to reach, retention, equity in reach and retention, satisfaction and changes in behaviour change motivation, HRBs and health. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A pre-post intervention study with four time points is conducted at a general hospital in Germany. All patients, aged 18-64 years, admitted to participating wards of five medical departments (internal medicine A and B, general surgery, trauma surgery, ear, nose and throat medicine) are systematically approached and invited to participate. Based on behaviour change theory and individual HRB profile, 175 participants receive individualised and motivation-enhancing computer-generated feedback at months 0, 1 and 3. Intervention reach and retention are determined by the proportion of participants among eligible patients and of participants who continue participation, respectively. Equity in reach and retention are measured with regard to school education and other sociodemographics. To investigate satisfaction with the intervention and subsequent changes, a 6-month follow-up is conducted. Descriptive statistics, multivariate regressions and latent growth modelling are applied. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The local ethics commission and data safety appointee approved the study procedures. Results will be disseminated via publication in international scientific journals and presentations on scientific conferences. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT05365269.

The Role of Tobacco Smoking in the Efficacy of Brief Alcohol Intervention: Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial.

This study investigated whether tobacco smoking affected outcomes of brief alcohol interventions (BAIs) in at-risk alcohol-drinking general hospital patients. Between 2011 and 2012 among patients aged 18−64 years, 961 patients were allocated to in-person counseling (PE), computer-based BAI containing computer-generated individual feedback letters (CO), and assessment only. PE and CO included contacts at baseline, 1, and 3 months. After 6, 12, 18, and 24 months, self-reported reduction of alcohol use per day was assessed as an outcome. By using latent growth curve models, self-reported smoking status, and number of cigarettes per day were tested as moderators. In PE and CO, alcohol use was reduced independently of smoking status (IRRs ≤ 0.61, ps < 0.005). At month 24, neither smoking status nor number of cigarettes per day moderated the efficacy of PE (IRR = 0.69, ps > 0.05) and CO (IRR = 0.85, ps > 0.05). Up to month 12, among persons smoking ≤ 19 cigarettes per day, the efficacy of CO increased with an increasing number of cigarettes (ps < 0.05). After 24 months, the efficacy of PE and CO that have been shown to reduce drinking did not differ by smoking status or number of cigarettes per day. Findings indicate that efficacy may differ by the number of cigarettes in the short term.

Investigating the Association Between the Co-Occurrence of Behavioral Health Risk Factors and Sick Days in General Hospital Patients.

Objectives: To investigate the co-occurrence of 4 behavioral health risk factors (BHRFs), namely tobacco smoking, alcohol at-risk drinking, physical inactivity and unhealthy diet and their association with sick days prior to hospitalization in general hospital patients. Methods: Over 10 weeks (11/2020-04/2021), all 18-64-year-old patients admitted to internal medicine, general and trauma surgery, and otorhinolaryngology wards of a tertiary care hospital were systematically approached. Among 355 eligible patients, 278 (78.3%) participated, and 256 (72.1%) were analyzed. Three BHRF sum scores were determined, including current tobacco smoking, alcohol use, physical inactivity and 1 of 3 indicators of unhealthy diet. Associations between BHRF sum scores and sick days in the past 6 months were analyzed using multivariate zero-inflated negative binomial regressions. Results: Sixty-two percent reported multiple BHRFs (≥2). The BHRF sum score was related to the number of sick days if any (p = 0.009) with insufficient vegetable and fruit intake as diet indicator. Conclusion: The majority of patients disclosed multiple BHRFs. These were associated with sick days prior to admission. The findings support the need to implement interventions targeting multiple BHRFs in general hospitals.