Specialist vs. Primary Care Treatment of Alcohol Dependence

Because people with moderate levels of alcohol dependence are more likely to seek care in primary care than in specialty settings, researchers in Sweden randomized 288 such patients to comprehensive treatment by a team of experienced specialists at a single center or brief interventions provided by general practitioners at 12 primary care centers who had received 8 hours of training. Both interventions lasted 6 months.

The primary care intervention involved an initial feedback session of 30 minutes, followed by pharmacology or psychological interventions (maximum, 90 minutes over 24 weeks) if the patient agreed. Data on 231 patients were available at follow-up a year after the interventions started. Both groups significantly reduced their al…