Association between alcohol screening scores and diabetic self-care behaviors.

Background And Objectives: Alcohol misuse is associated with poor adherence to recommended self-care behaviors, which are critical for diabetes management. This study investigated whether scores on a validated brief alcohol misuse screen are associated with diabetes self-care.

Methods: Male outpatients (n=3,930) from seven Veterans Affairs sites returned the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption (AUDIT-C) alcohol screen on mailed surveys and indicated they had diabetes.