Remission of alcohol disorders in primary care patients. Does diagnosis matter?
A significant proportion of patients with AUDs remitted without formal treatment. Abstinence may not be necessary for a subset of dependent patients. When counseling patients with active AUDs, primary care clinicians are advised to counsel patients about the psychosocial and medical reasons to control drinking, promote rule-setting about drinking, help patients avoid circumstances that trigger drinking, and support patients' attempts at moderating drinking rather than abstaining. Motivational interviewing (motivational enhancement therapy) may provide a useful framework for such counseling.
Our results suggest a threshold effect in the lesions that ultimately results in long-term functional deficiency. In addition, we show that the need for dialysis is not an adequate criterium for DGF in terms of long-term outcome prediction.