The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey results revealed that doctors and other health professionals rarely asked about alcohol drinking habits of their patients.
The survey was taken by 166,753 adults over 18 years old from 44 different states, including District of Columbia in 2011.
The survey results showed that one in every six adult reported that their health professionals had never talked about drinking. The rate is slightly lower for binge drinkers, with one in every four saying that their doctors never brought up the subject of alcohol consumption. For pregnant women, 17 percent said that they were never quizzed about their drinking habits, although it is generally known that drinking during pregnancy can be dangerous.
"Drinking alcohol has a lot more risks than many people realize," stated CDC Director Thomas Frieden to USA Today. "In the same way we screen patients for high cholesterol and high blood pressure, we should be screening for excess alcohol use and responding effectively."
The U.S Preventive Service Task Force has recommended health professionals to ask about their patients' drinking habits. Similarly, the Affordable Care Act states that health insurance should cover for such sessions with their doctors. The idea behind this is to help doctors and other health professionals identify alcoholic patients and to offer counselling services to those who resort to drinking whenever they face problems.
"For every one person who has alcoholism, there are at least six who are problem drinkers," Frieden told USA Today.
"They face health and safety consequences, including increased risks of breast cancer, sexually transmitted diseases, unintended pregnancies, fetal alcohol disorders, vehicle crashes, violence and suicide," wrote the report.
According to the CDC website, at least 38 million adults engage in binge drinking yet not considered alcoholics. About 88,000 deaths in the U.S are linked to drinking too much and costs the government about $224 billion per year.
