NHS Health Checks now include AUDIT-C, a brief screening tool designed to help identify people who may be problem drinkers. Taking the test can be a sobering experience for patients, but now is the time to get a grip on our national relationship with alcohol.
Ask, ask, ask…about alcohol
Back to Basics: Alcohol use disorders identification test (Audit-C)
Back to Basics: High-risk drinking and the liver
Back to Basics: The effects of high risk drinking on the body
Alcohol and the heart: food, medicine or poison?
People have been producing alcohol for thousands of years and consuming it as part of their diet as well as for medicinal purposes. When taken in moderation, drinking alcohol can be a safe and pleasurable activity with potential heart health benefits. However, those cardiovascular benefits are lost when alcohol is consumed in excess, and drinking becomes harmful with adverse physical, psychological and social consequences.
Alcohol and sex: a risky mixture for sexual health
Alcohol-related harm is a major public health concern, and since April 2013 questions to identify problem drinkers have been included in the NHS Health Check for people aged 40-74 years. But young people are also a key at-risk group for hazardous consumption, and the physical harms of alcohol may be compounded by risks to their sexual health.
Over the limit? A healthier approach to alcohol
Alcohol forms part of the diet for over 90% of adults in the UK and is unusual in being both a nutrient and a drug. For many of us, alcohol is a safe and pleasurable part of the diet. However, there is growing concern that many people who see themselves as social drinkers are consuming levels that may cause harm. Understanding how to assess safe levels of alcohol consumption and identify strategies for cutting down can help us to advise our patients how to moderate their intake.
Chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular risk and primary care
This article describes the interrelationship between chronic kidney disease (CKD) and cardiovascular disease and defines the basis for the various interventions which have been recommended in national guidelines. It also provides a critique of currently available guidelines and suggests where changes may be desirable in future.
Identifying people with or at risk of type 2 diabetes
In this paper, we summarise previously reported findings from the MY-WAIST study, which aimed to evaluate a primary care strategy for identifying people with undiagnosed type 2 diabetes or at increased risk of developing this condition. Recruitment was unexpectedly low, but the qualitative data collected, including interviews with healthcare providers, helped to highlight some of the reasons for poor uptake of the appointments offered. Perceived barriers to recruitment included heavy workloads and competing demands in primary care. Lower uptake in people from harder-to-reach groups was identified in our quantitative findings and was also suggested by healthcare providers’ perceptions about the characteristics of patients who attended.
Coherent management of diabetes, weight & cardiometabolic risk
Successful management of individuals with diabetes, or any other single component of the metabolic syndrome, requires treatment of all the related physiological systems as a whole. This treatment must be underpinned by the management of obesity, and drugs should be preferred that address the entire portfolio of the metabolic syndrome.
The importance of early diagnosis: how to identify patients with FH for diagnosis and referral
Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is under-diagnosed and under-treated, despite clear evidence-based guidelines for identification and management, and the availability of low-cost, generic, high-intensity statin treatment. Genetic cascade testing is the key to early diagnosis, which can help ensure that this treatment is no longer ‘too little, too late’.
HEART UK – The Cholesterol Charity – has provided editorial support and review of this sponsored FH series.This article was made possible by an unrestricted educational grant by Sanofi, who had no control over content.
