ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2016
Comparison of brief interventions in primary care on smoking and excessive alcohol consumption: a population survey in England.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 51 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
51 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 100 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evaluating the Effectiveness of Brief Interventions for Smoking Cessation Performed by Family Doctors.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2024Pooled it
- Factors influencing the implementation of screening and brief interventions for alcohol use in primary care practices: a systematic review using the COM-B system and Theoretical Domains Framework.Implementation science : IS · 2021Pooled it
- Personalised digital interventions for reducing hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption in community-dwelling populations.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2017Pooled it
- Concurrent use of alcohol interactive medications and alcohol in older adults: a systematic review of prevalence and associated adverse outcomes.BMC geriatrics · 2017Pooled it
- Implementing pragmatic case finding to address alcohol use in general practice: a mixed methods feasibility study.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2026Trial
- Supporting alcohol brief interventions and pharmacotherapy provision in Australian First Nations primary care: exploratory analysis of a cluster randomised trial.BMC primary care · 2024Trial
- Evaluating the Acceptability of the Drink Less App and the National Health Service Alcohol Advice Web Page: Qualitative Interview Process Evaluation.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Trial
- Impact of brief smoking cessation intervention on quitting rate and glycemic control in patients with diabetes: a randomized controlled trial.The Journal of international medical research · 2023Trial
- Impact of Training and Municipal Support on Primary Health Care-Based Measurement of Alcohol Consumption in Three Latin American Countries: 5-Month Outcome Results of the Quasi-experimental Randomized SCALA Trial.Journal of general internal medicine · 2021Trial
- A smartphone app to reduce excessive alcohol consumption: Identifying the effectiveness of intervention components in a factorial randomised control trial.Scientific reports · 2018Trial
- Evaluating the effectiveness of a smartphone app to reduce excessive alcohol consumption: protocol for a factorial randomised control trial.BMC public health · 2016Trial
- Attitudes towards addressing alcohol consumption by healthcare professionals: a cross-sectional study among older adults in the Netherlands.Alcohol and alcoholism (Oxford, Oxfordshire) · 2026Article
- Smoking, and to a lesser extent non-combustible nicotine use, is associated with higher levels of alcohol consumption and risky drinking.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- AlcoChange: A digital therapeutic for patients with alcohol-related liver disease.JHEP reports : innovation in hepatology · 2024Article
- Article
- Brief interventions for smoking and alcohol associated with the COVID-19 pandemic: a population survey in England.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Alcohol and smoking brief interventions by socioeconomic position: a population-based, cross-sectional study in Great Britain.BJGP open · 2023Article
- Screening and brief intervention for alcohol use disorder risk in three middle-income countries.BMC public health · 2022Article
- Article
- Pragmatic approaches for addressing alcohol in general practice: Development of a tailored implementation intervention.Frontiers in health services · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundBrief interventions have a modest but meaningful effect on promoting smoking cessation and reducing excessive alcohol consumption. Guidelines recommend offering such advice opportunistically and regularly but incentives vary between the two behaviours.
aimTo use representative data from the perspective of patients to compare the prevalence and characteristics of people who smoke or drink excessively and who receive a brief intervention. DESIGN AND
settingData was from a representative sample of 15,252 adults from household surveys in England.
methodRecall of brief interventions on smoking and alcohol use, sociodemographic information, and smoking and alcohol consumption patterns were assessed among smokers and those who drink excessively (AUDIT score of ≥8), who visited their GP surgery in the previous year.
resultsOf 1775 smokers, 50.4% recalled receiving brief advice on smoking in the previous year. Smokers receiving advice compared with those who did not were more likely to be older (odds ratio [OR] 17-year increments 1.19, 95% confidence interval [CI] =1.06 to 1.34), female (OR 1.35, 95% CI =1.10 to 1.65), have a disability (OR 1.44, 95% CI = 1.11 to 1.88), have made more quit attempts in the previous year (compared with no attempts: one attempt, OR 1.65, 95% CI = 1.32 to 2.08; ≥2 attempts, OR 2.02, 95% CI =1.49 to 2.74), and have greater nicotine dependence (OR 1.17, 95% CI =1.05 to 1.31) but were less likely to have no post-16 qualifications (OR 0.81, 95% CI = 0.66 to 1.00). Of 1110 people drinking excessively, 6.5% recalled receiving advice in their GP surgery on their alcohol consumption in the previous year. Those receiving advice compared with those who did not had higher AUDIT scores (OR 1.17, 95% CI =1.12 to 1.23) and were less likely to be female (OR 0.44, 95% CI = 0.23 to 0.87).
conclusionWhereas approximately half of smokers in England visiting their GP in the past year report having received advice on cessation, <10% of those who drink excessively report having received advice on their alcohol consumption.
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