Each year, about 1 in 7 men and 1 in 11 women in the United States meet criteria for alcohol use disorder (AUD)—affecting nearly 29 million people, roughly the entire population of Texas. Patients with AUD face staggering health risks: they are 3.5 times more likely to die than the general population, and their life expectancy is up to 25 years shorter. Over the past decade, alcohol-related emergency department (ED) visits have climbed by nearly 50%. Between 2021 and 2023 alone, alcohol accounted for approximately 8.6 million substance use-related ED visits—double the number linked to opioids.
Effective treatments and resources for AUD are underutilized and screening rates in the ED are as low as 8%, leaving millions of high-risk patients unidentified and untreated. This mismatch between disease burden and screening represents a critical missed opportunity. Closing this gap is possible. Naltrexone, for example, has a number needed to treat of just 12 to prevent relapse into heavy drinking. It is widely available, easy to prescribe, and can be life-altering—even life-saving.
This post highlights practical screening tools for identifying it in the ED, and offers recommendations for seamlessly integrating these approaches into everyday workflow to deliver more comprehensive patient-centered care.
The post Screening for Alcohol Use Disorder appeared first on REBEL EM - Emergency Medicine Blog.

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