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.
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.
Helping dependent drinkers to give up alcohol
It has been estimated that one in every five patients in the UK drinks to excess, so the average English general practice may have as many as 1,000 problem drinkers. This size of problem can only be dealt with effectively if all members of the primary healthcare team are involved in supporting problem drinkers and ensuring that dependent drinkers are referred to appropriate specialist services.
Reducing alcohol misuse and using audit tools in primary care
Excessive alcohol consumption has joined smoking and obesity as one of today’s major threats to public health. It is a major cause of liver disease, as well as a range of cancers, cardiovascular disease and mental illness. What’s the solution? We look at how primary care can identify patients who are drinking too much and what interventions can help.
Reducing alcohol misuse and using audit tools in primary care
Excessive alcohol consumption has joined smoking and obesity as one of today’s major threats to public health. It is a major cause of liver disease, as well as a range of cancers, cardiovascular disease and mental illness. What’s the solution? We look at how primary care can identify patients who are drinking too much and what interventions can help.
Editorial 1 – Putting chronic liver disease on the primary care agenda
Chronic liver disease is a problem for all of us. It develops silently, often taking many years to cause sufficient damage to be detectable or cause signs or symptoms for which a patient would seek attention. Primary care has a central role in improving the prevention and early detection of chronic liver disease. This special issue of the British Journal of Primary Care Nursing (BJPCN) and Primary Care Cardiovascular Journal on chronic liver disease is full of step-by-step guides and informative articles to give you the key information and tools to get to grips with this important condition.
Take your gin without the tonic: prolonged QTc interval and torsades de pointes
Take your gin without the tonic: prolonged QTc interval and torsades de pointes – David Ripley, Fiona MacCormack, Mark Kinghan, Kate Willmer
Torsades de pointes (TdP) is a life-threatening ventricular arrhythmia associated with prolongation of the QT interval. This case report describes one possible cause of acquired prolongation of the QT interval, and discusses more broadly the topic of antiarrhythmic drug side-effects and interactions.
