SynthesisThe western journal of emergency medicine2017
Effectiveness of SBIRT for Alcohol Use Disorders in the Emergency Department: A Systematic Review.
Synthesis in The western journal of emergency medicine, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 86 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
86 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 180 citations in OpenAlex.
- Stigmatism among physicians and nurses towards patients with alcohol use disorder: a systematic review.BMC health services research · 2026Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Evidence-Based Prevention Approaches for Alcohol Problems with Viability for Military Implementation.Military medicine · 2025Pooled it
- The effectiveness of digital training on screening, brief interventions, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) for medical and health professionals: a systematic review.British medical bulletin · 2025Pooled it
- Screening instruments to detect problematic alcohol use among adults in hospitals and their diagnostic test accuracy: A systematic review.Drug and alcohol review · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness and implementation of interventions for health promotion in urgent and emergency care settings: an umbrella review.BMC emergency medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Practitioner and digitally delivered interventions for reducing hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption in people not seeking alcohol treatment: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2023Pooled it
- Management of Mental Health Disorders, Substance Use Disorders, and Suicide in Adults with Spinal Cord Injury: Clinical Practice Guideline for Healthcare Providers.Topics in spinal cord injury rehabilitationGuideline
- Cardiovascular Consequences of Excessive Alcohol Drinking via Electrocardiogram: A Systematic Review.Journal of addictions nursingPooled it
- Evaluating the Efficacy of Electronic Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (e-SBIRT) for Gambling: An Online Pilot Randomised Trial.Journal of clinical psychology · 2026Trial
- Care Navigation for Methamphetamine Use Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2026Trial
- The effectiveness of a brief intervention for intensive care unit patients with hazardous alcohol use: a randomized controlled trial.Critical care (London, England) · 2024Trial
- Use of an Automated Bilingual Digital Health Tool to Reduce Unhealthy Alcohol Use Among Latino Emergency Department Patients: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2023Trial
- Using recovery management checkups for primary care to improve linkage to alcohol and other drug use treatment: a randomized controlled trial three month findings.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2023Trial
- Effect of a Novel Brief Motivational Intervention for Alcohol-Intoxicated Young Adults in the Emergency Department: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2022Trial
- Results of a Randomized Trial of Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) to Reduce Alcohol Misuse Among Active-Duty Military Personnel.Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs · 2021Trial
- Effect of screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment for unhealthy alcohol and other drug use in mental health treatment settings: a randomized controlled trial.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2021Trial
- Feasibility and Acceptability of a Text Message-Based Intervention to Reduce Overuse of Alcohol in Emergency Department Patients: Controlled Proof-of-Concept Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2020Trial
- Implementation of a Hospital-Based Screening and Treatment Program for Unhealthy Alcohol Use.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Article
- An adapted brief negotiation interview for alcohol and cannabis use among assault-injured emerging adults: A randomized pilot trial protocol.Contemporary clinical trials · 2026Article
- Mental Health Symptom Screening Among Adult Emergency Department Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open · 2026Article
26 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionAlcohol use disorders (AUD) place a significant burden on individuals and society. The emergency department (ED) offers a unique opportunity to address AUD with brief screening tools and early intervention. We undertook a systematic review of the effectiveness of ED brief interventions for patients identified through screening who are at risk for AUD, and the effectiveness of these interventions at reducing alcohol intake and preventing alcohol-related injuries.
methodsWe conducted systematic electronic database searches to include randomized controlled trials of AUD screening, brief intervention, referral, and treatment (SBIRT), from January 1966 to April 2016. Two authors graded and abstracted data from each included paper.
resultsWe found 35 articles that had direct relevance to the ED with enrolled patients ranging from 12 to 70 years of age. Multiple alcohol screening tools were used to identify patients at risk for AUD. Brief intervention (BI) and brief motivational intervention (BMI) strategies were compared to a control intervention or usual care. Thirteen studies enrolling a total of 5,261 participants reported significant differences between control and intervention groups in their main alcohol-outcome criteria of number of drink days and number of units per drink day. Sixteen studies showed a reduction of alcohol consumption in both the control and intervention groups; of those, seven studies did not identify a significant intervention effect for the main outcome criteria, but nine observed some significant differences between BI and control conditions for specific subgroups (i.e., adolescents and adolescents with prior history of drinking and driving; women 22 years old or younger; low or moderate drinkers); or secondary outcome criteria (e.g. reduction in driving while intoxicated).
conclusionModerate-quality evidence of targeted use of BI/BMI in the ED showed a small reduction in alcohol use in low or moderate drinkers, a reduction in the negative consequences of use (such as injury), and a decline in ED repeat visits for adults and children 12 years of age and older. BI delivered in the ED appears to have a short-term effect in reducing at-risk drinking.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.