Practical assessment of DSM-5 alcohol use disorder criteria in routine care: High test-retest reliability of an Alcohol Symptom Checklist.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is underdiagnosed and undertreated in medical settings, in part due to a lack of AUD assessment instruments that are reliable and practical for use in routine care. This study evaluates the test-retest reliability of a patient-report Alcohol Symptom Checklist questionnaire when it is used in routine care, including primary care and mental health specialty settings. METHODS: We performed a pragmatic test-retest reliability study using electronic health record (EHR) data from Kaiser Permanente Washington, an integrated health system in Washington state. The sample included 454 patients who reported high-risk drinking on a behavioral health screen and completed two Alcohol Symptom Checklists 1 to 21 days apart. Subgroups of these patients who completed both checklists in primary care (n = 271) or mental health settings (n = 79) were also examined. The primary measure was an Alcohol Symptom Checklist on which patients self-reported whether they experienced each of the 11 AUD criteria within the past year, as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5th edition (DSM-5). RESULTS: Alcohol Symptom Checklists completed in routine care and documented in EHRs had excellent test-retest reliability for measuring AUD criterion counts (ICC = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.76 to 0.82). Test-retest reliability estimates were also high and not significantly different for the subsamples of patients who completed both checklists in primary care (ICC = 0.82, 95% CI: 0.77 to 0.85) or mental health settings (ICC = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.62 to 0.83). Test-retest reliability was not moderated by having a past two-year AUD diagnosis, nor by the age or sex of the patient completing it. CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol Symptom Checklists can reliably and pragmatically assess AUD criteria in routine care among patients who screen positive for high-risk drinking. The Alcohol Symptom Checklist may be a valuable tool in supporting AUD-related care and monitoring AUD criteria longitudinally in routine primary care and mental health settings.

Practical Assessment of Alcohol Use Disorder in Routine Primary Care: Performance of an Alcohol Symptom Checklist.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is highly prevalent but underrecognized and undertreated in primary care settings. Alcohol Symptom Checklists can engage patients and providers in discussions of AUD-related care. However, the performance of Alcohol Symptom Checklists when they are used in routine care and documented in electronic health records (EHRs) remains unevaluated. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the psychometric performance of an Alcohol Symptom Checklist in routine primary care. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study using item response theory (IRT) and differential item functioning analyses of measurement consistency across age, sex, race, and ethnicity. PATIENTS: Patients seen in primary care in the Kaiser Permanente Washington Healthcare System who reported high-risk drinking on the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test Consumption screening measure (AUDIT-C ≥ 7) and subsequently completed an Alcohol Symptom Checklist between October 2015 and February 2020. MAIN MEASURE: Alcohol Symptom Checklists with 11 items assessing AUD criteria defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5), completed by patients during routine medical care and documented in EHRs. KEY RESULTS: Among 11,464 patients who screened positive for high-risk drinking and completed an Alcohol Symptom Checklist (mean age 43.6 years, 30.5% female), 54.1% reported ≥ 2 DSM-5 AUD criteria (threshold for AUD diagnosis). IRT analyses demonstrated that checklist items measured a unidimensional continuum of AUD severity. Differential item functioning was observed for some demographic subgroups but had minimal impact on accurate measurement of AUD severity, with differences between demographic subgroups attributable to differential item functioning never exceeding 0.42 points of the total symptom count (of a possible range of 0-11). CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol Symptom Checklists used in routine care discriminated AUD severity consistently with current definitions of AUD and performed equitably across age, sex, race, and ethnicity. Integrating symptom checklists into routine care may help inform clinical decision-making around diagnosing and managing AUD.

Routine Assessment of Symptoms of Substance Use Disorders in Primary Care: Prevalence and Severity of Reported Symptoms.

BACKGROUND: Most patients with substance use disorders (SUDs) never receive treatment and SUDs are under-recognized in primary care (PC) where patients can be treated or linked to treatment. Asking PC patients to directly report SUD symptoms on questionnaires might help identify SUDs but to our knowledge, this approach is previously untested. OBJECTIVE: To describe the prevalence and severity of DSM-5 SUD symptoms reported by PC patients as part of routine care. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study using secondary data. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 241,265 adult patients who visited one of 25 PC sites in an integrated health system in Washington state and had alcohol, cannabis, or other drug use screening documented in their EHRs (March 2015-July 2018) were included in main analyses if they had a positive screen for high-risk substance use defined as AUDIT-C score 7-12 points, or report of past-year daily cannabis use or any other drug use. MAIN MEASURES: The main outcome was number of SUD symptoms based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 5th edition (DSM-5), reported on Symptom Checklists (0-11) for alcohol or other drugs: 2-3 mild; 4-5 moderate; 6-11 severe. RESULTS: Of screened patients, 16,776 (5.7%) reported high-risk use of alcohol (2.4%), cannabis (3.9%), and/or other drugs (1.7%), and 65.0-69.9% of those completed Symptom Checklists. Of those with high-risk alcohol use, 52.5% (95% CI 50.9-54.0%) reported ≥ 2 symptoms consistent with mild-severe alcohol use disorders. Of those reporting daily cannabis use, 29.8% (28.6-30.9%) reported ≥ 2 symptoms consistent with mild-severe SUDs. Of those reporting any other drug use, 37.5% (35.7-39.3%) reported ≥ 2 symptoms consistent with mild-severe SUDs. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Many PC patients who screened positive for high-risk substance use reported symptoms consistent with DSM-5 SUDs on self-report Symptom Checklists. Use of SUD Symptom Checklists could support PC providers in making SUD diagnoses and initiating discussions of substance use.

Integration of screening, assessment, and treatment for cannabis and other drug use disorders in primary care: An evaluation in three pilot sites.

BACKGROUND: This pilot study evaluated whether use of evidence-based implementation strategies to integrate care for cannabis and other drug use into primary care (PC) as part of Behavioral Health Integration (BHI) increased diagnosis and treatment of substance use disorders (SUDs). METHODS: Patients who visited the three pilot PC sites were eligible. Implementation strategies included practice coaching, electronic health record decision support, and performance feedback (3/2015-4/2016). BHI introduced annual screening for past-year cannabis and other drug use, a Symptom Checklist for DSM-5 SUDs, and shared decision-making about treatment options. Main analyses tested whether the proportions of PC patients diagnosed with, and treated for, new cannabis or other drug use disorders (CUDs and DUDs, respectively), differed significantly pre- and post-implementation. RESULTS: Of 39,599 eligible patients, 57% and 59% were screened for cannabis and other drug use, respectively. Among PC patients reporting daily cannabis use (2%) or any drug use (1%), 51% and 37%, respectively, completed an SUD Symptom Checklist. The proportion of PC patients with newly diagnosed CUD increased significantly post-implementation (5 v 17 per 10,000 patients, p < 0.0001), but not other DUDs (10 vs 13 per 10,000, p = 0.24). The proportion treated for newly diagnosed CUDs did not increase post-implementation (1 vs 1 per 10,000, p = 0.80), but did for those treated for newly diagnosed other DUDs (1 vs 3 per 10,000, p = 0.038). CONCLUSIONS: A pilot implementation of BHI to increase routine screening and assessment for SUDs was associated with increased new CUD diagnoses and a small increase in treatment of new other DUDs.

Association of Adolescent Depressive Symptoms With Health Care Utilization and Payer-Incurred Expenditures.

OBJECTIVE: Screening adolescents for depression is recommended by the US Preventive Services Task Force. We sought to evaluate the impact of positive depression screens in an adolescent population on health care utilization and costs from a payer perspective. METHODS: We conducted depression screening among 13- to 17-year-old adolescents enrolled in a large integrated care system using the 2- and 9-item Patient Health Questionnaires (PHQ). Health care utilization and cost data were obtained from administrative records. Chi-square, Wilcoxon rank sum, and t tests were used to test for statistical differences in outcomes between adolescents on the basis of screening status. RESULTS: Of the 4010 adolescents who completed depression screening, 3707 (92.4%) screened negative (PHQ-2 <2 or PHQ-9 <10), 186 (3.9%) screened positive for mild depression (PHQ-9 10-14), and 95 (2.4%) screened positive for moderate to severe depression (PHQ-9 ≥15). In the 12 months after screening, screen-positive adolescents were more likely than screen-negative adolescents to receive any emergency department visit or inpatient hospitalization, and they had significantly higher utilization of outpatient medical (mean ± SD, 8.3 ± 1.5 vs 3.5 ± 5.1) and mental health (3.8 ± 9.3 vs 0.7 ± 3.5) visits. Total health care system costs for screen-positive adolescents ($5083 ± $10,489) were more than twice as high as those of screen-negative adolescents ($2357 ± $7621). CONCLUSIONS: Adolescent depressive symptoms, even when mild, are associated with increased health care utilization and costs. Only a minority of the increased costs is attributable to mental health care. Implementing depression screening and evidence-based mental health services may help to better control health care costs among screen-positive adolescents.

Integrating depression and chronic disease care among patients with diabetes and/or coronary heart disease: the design of the TEAMcare study.

Diabetes and coronary heart disease (CHD) are two of the most prevalent medical illnesses in the US population and comorbid depression occurs in up to 20% of these patients. Guidelines for management of diabetes and CHD overlap for healthy lifestyle and disease-control recommendations. However, the majority of patients with these medical illnesses have been shown to have inadequate control of key risk factors such as blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, or blood sugar. Comorbid depression has been shown to adversely affect self-care of diabetes and CHD, and is associated with an increased risk of complications and mortality. Interventions that have improved quality and outcomes of depression care alone in patients with diabetes and CHD have not demonstrated benefits in self-care, improved disease control or morbidity and mortality. This paper describes the design and development of a new biopsychosocial intervention (TEAMcare) aimed at improving both medical disease control and depression in patients with poor control of diabetes and/or CHD who met the criteria for comorbid depression. A team approach is used with a nurse interventionist who receives weekly psychiatric and primary care physician caseload supervision in order to enhance treatment by the primary care physician. This intervention is being tested in an NIMH-funded randomized controlled trial in a large integrated health plan.

Cost-sharing for low-income workers: health insurance in the on-your-ownership society.

Effects of increased cost-sharing in Washington State's Basic Health Plan (BHP) were assessed among adult BHP beneficiaries (N=14,515) and age-sex-residence matched controls enrolled in Group Health Cooperative. The BHP enrollees had higher disenrollment than controls before and after cost-sharing increases, but disenrollment did not change with increased cost-sharing. Basic Health Plan enrollees' out-of-pocket-costs increased 100% in two years, compared with 42% for controls. Out-of-pocket costs for BHP enrollees with diabetes increased 61% (from $675 to $1,086), while the 90th percentile increased 74%, from $1,358 to $2,365. Basic Health Plan enrollees had somewhat fewer visits than controls after cost-sharing increases, but total costs, timeliness of glucose monitoring, and glycemic control were unaffected. Cost-sharing changes increased out-of-pocket costs for BHP enrollees without affecting total costs, disenrollment, or diabetes quality of care indicators. The predominant effect of increased cost-sharing was to increase costs for low-income workers, particularly those with chronic disease.

Diabetes complications severity index and risk of mortality, hospitalization, and healthcare utilization.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the number and severity of diabetes complications are associated with increased risk of mortality and hospitalizations. STUDY DESIGN: Validation sample. METHODS: The Diabetes Complications Severity Index (DCSI) was developed from automated clinical baseline data of a primary care diabetes cohort and compared with a simple count of complications to predict mortality and hospitalizations. Cox proportional hazard and Poisson regression models were used to predict mortality and hospitalizations, respectively. RESULTS: Of 4229 respondents, 356 deaths occurred during 4 years of follow-up. Those with 1 complication did not have an increased risk of mortality, whereas those with 2 complications (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.90, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.27, 2.83), 3 complications (HR = 2.66, 95% CI = 1.77, 4.01), 4 complications (HR = 3.41, 95% CI = 2.18, 5.33), and >5 complications (HR = 7.18, 95% CI = 4.39, 11.74) had greater risk of death. Replacing the complications count with the DCSI showed a similar mortality risk. Each level of the continuous DCSI was associated with a 1.34-fold (95% CI = 1.28, 1.41) greater risk of death. Similar results were obtained for the association of the DCSI with risk of hospitalization. Comparison of receiver operating characteristic curves verified that the DCSI was a slightly better predictor of mortality than a count of complications (P < .0001). CONCLUSION: Compared with the complications count, the DCSI performed slightly better and appears to be a useful tool for prediction of mortality and risk of hospitalization.

Preteen attitudes about smoking and parental factors associated with favorable attitudes.

PURPOSE: To describe youth smoking-related attitudes and evaluate the effects of parental factors on child adoption of positive attitudes about smoking. DESIGN: This study used baseline and 20-month data from a family-based smoking-prevention study (82.9% completed both surveys). SETTING: Telephone recruitment from two health maintenance organizations. SUBJECTS: Children aged 10 to 12 years and one parent of each child (n=418 families) were randomly assigned to a frequent assessment cohort (12.5% of participants). Intervention. Families received a mailed smoking-prevention packet (parent handbook, videotape about youth smoking, comic book, pen, and stickers), outreach telephone counselor calls to the parent, a newsletter, and medical record prompts for providers to deliver smoking-prevention messages to parents and children. MEASURES: Demographics, tobacco status, attitudes about smoking (Teenage Attitudes and Practices Survey), family discussions about tobacco, family cohesiveness (family support and togetherness), parent involvement, parent monitoring, and parenting confidence. Results. One-third of the children endorsed beliefs that they could smoke without becoming addicted, and 8% to 10% endorsed beliefs on the benefits of smoking. Children's positive attitudes about smoking were associated with lower family cohesiveness (p = .01). Parental use of tobacco was the only significant predictor of children's positive attitudes about tobacco at 20 months (p = .03). CONCLUSIONS: Children as young as 10 years underestimate addictive properties of smoking, which may place them at risk for future smoking. Parental use of tobacco and family cohesiveness are important factors in the formulation of preteen attitudes about smoking.

Work disability among individuals with diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: Diabetes is rapidly increasing in prevalence among working-age adults, but little is known about the clinical characteristics that predict work disability in this population. This study assessed clinical predictors of work disability among working-age individuals with diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: In a cohort of diabetic individuals (n = 1,642) enrolled in a large health maintenance organization, excluding homemakers and retirees, we assessed the relation of diabetes severity, chronic disease comorbidity, depressive illness, and behavioral risk factors with work disability. Three indicators of work disability were assessed: being unable to work or otherwise being unemployed; missing > or =5 days from work in the prior month; and having severe difficulty with work tasks. RESULTS: In the study population, 19% had significant work disability: 12% were unemployed, 7% of employed subjects had missed > or =5 days from work in the prior month, and 4% of employed subjects reported having had severe difficulty with work tasks. Depressive illness, chronic disease comorbidity, and diabetes symptoms were associated with all three types of work disability. Diabetes complications predicted unemployment and overall work disability status, whereas obesity and sedentary lifestyle did not predict work disability. Among subjects experiencing both major depression and three or more diabetes complications, >50% were unemployed; of those with significant work disability, half met the criteria for major or minor depression. CONCLUSIONS: Depressive illness was strongly associated with unemployment and problems with work performance. Disease severity indicators, including complications and chronic disease comorbidity, were associated with unemployment and overall work disability status. Effective management of work disability among diabetic patients may need to address both physical and psychological impairments.

Racial and ethnic differences in microalbuminuria prevalence in a diabetes population: the pathways study.

The objective of this study was to determine whether racial or ethnic differences in prevalence of diabetic microalbuminuria were observed in a large primary care population in which comparable access to health care exists. A cross-sectional analysis of survey and automated laboratory data 2969 primary care diabetic patients of a large regional health maintenance organization was conducted. Study data were analyzed for racial/ethnic differences in microalbuminuria (30 to 300 mg albumin/g creatinine) and macroalbuminuria (>300 mg albumin/g creatinine) prevalence among diabetes registry-identified patients who completed a survey that assessed demographics, diabetes care, and depression. Computerized pharmacy, hospital, and laboratory data were linked to survey data for analysis. Racial/ethnic differences in the odds of microalbuminuria and macroalbuminuria were assessed by unconditional logistic regression, stratified by the presence of hypertension. Among those tested, the unadjusted prevalence of micro- or macroalbuminuria was 30.9%, which was similar among the various racial/ethnic groups. Among those without hypertension, microalbuminuria was twofold greater (odds ratio [OR] 2.01; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.14 to 3.53) and macroalbuminuria was threefold greater (OR 3.17; 95% CI 1.09 to 9.26) for Asians as compared with whites. Among those with hypertension, adjusted odds of microalbuminuria were greater for Hispanics (OR 3.82; 95% CI 1.16 to 12.57) than whites, whereas adjusted odds of macroalbuminuria were threefold greater for blacks (OR 3.32; 95% CI 1.26 to 8.76) than for whites. For most racial/ethnic minorities, hypertriglyceridemia was significantly associated with greater odds of micro- and macroalbuminuria. Among a large primary care population, racial/ethnic differences exist in the adjusted prevalence of microalbuminuria and macroalbuminuria depending on hypertension status. In this setting, racial/ethnic differences in early diabetic nephropathy were observed despite comparable access to diabetes care.

Relationship of depression and diabetes self-care, medication adherence, and preventive care.

OBJECTIVE: We assessed whether diabetes self-care, medication adherence, and use of preventive services were associated with depressive illness. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: In a large health maintenance organization, 4,463 patients with diabetes completed a questionnaire assessing self-care, diabetes monitoring, and depression. Automated diagnostic, laboratory, and pharmacy data were used to assess glycemic control, medication adherence, and preventive services. RESULTS: This predominantly type 2 diabetic population had a mean HbA(1c) level of 7.8 +/- 1.6%. Three-quarters of the patients received hypoglycemic agents (oral or insulin) and reported at least weekly self-monitoring of glucose and foot checks. The mean number of HbA(1c) tests was 2.2 +/- 1.3 per year and was only slightly higher among patients with poorly controlled diabetes. Almost one-half (48.9%) had a BMI >30 kg/m(2), and 47.8% of patients exercised once a week or less. Pharmacy refill data showed a 19.5% nonadherence rate to oral hypoglycemic medicines (mean 67.4 +/- 74.1 days) in the prior year. Major depression was associated with less physical activity, unhealthy diet, and lower adherence to oral hypoglycemic, antihypertensive, and lipid-lowering medications. In contrast, preventive care of diabetes, including home-glucose tests, foot checks, screening for microalbuminuria, and retinopathy was similar among depressed and nondepressed patients. CONCLUSIONS: In a primary care population, diabetes self-care was suboptimal across a continuum from home-based activities, such as healthy eating, exercise, and medication adherence, to use of preventive care. Major depression was mainly associated with patient-initiated behaviors that are difficult to maintain (e.g., exercise, diet, medication adherence) but not with preventive services for diabetes.