[Detection and prevalence of alcohol use disorders in primary health care in Catalonia].

Aim: To describe the detection by general practitioners (GP) of alcohol use disorders (AUD) and alcohol dependence, and their prevalence in primary health settings.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Settings: Twenty Catalan primary health care centres (Spain).

Participants And Measurements: Twenty three randomly selected GP were surveyed about alcohol and other diseases of their patients. A total of 1,372 patient interviews were collected. Patients and GPs were asked about AUD and other mental and health conditions. The Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) as the gold standard was used, as well as other structured interviews (K10 screening and World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0).

Results: The CIDI diagnosed 9.6% of the total sample with an AUD, and 4.8% diagnosed by GPs. CIDI could detect more AUD in young adults, while GPs diagnosed more AUD and alcohol dependence in elderly people, who also had more health conditions. GPs recognised AUD in 28.8% of patients diagnosed with CIDI, but 42.4% of patients diagnosed by GPs were not detected with CIDI. Taking both into consideration, the gold standard and the GP clinical impression, 11.7% of patients had an AUD and 8.6% an AD.

Conclusions: GP recognise AUD better in the elderly with worst health conditions than CIDI. AUD and alcohol dependence prevalence is high in primary health care centres.