Published in:
01-08-2007 | Updates
Update in Addiction Medicine for the Generalist
Authors:
Adam J. Gordon, MD, MPH, Lynn E. Sullivan, MD, Daniel P. Alford, MD, MPH, Julia H. Arnsten, MD, MPH, Marc N. Gourevitch, MD, MPH, Stefan G. Kertesz, MD, MSc, Hillary V. Kunins, MD, MPH, MS, Joseph O. Merrill, MD, Jeffrey H. Samet, MD, MA, MPH, David A. Fiellin, MD
Published in:
Journal of General Internal Medicine
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Issue 8/2007
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Excerpt
Generalist physicians can play a critical role in identifying and treating patients with addictions to alcohol, nicotine, and/or other drugs of abuse. In the United States, nicotine dependence and unhealthy alcohol use are the first (18.1%) and third (3.5%) leading causes, respectively, of preventable deaths.
1 Primary care physicians have not traditionally treated substance use despite the harmful effects that addiction can cause in their patients. The objective of this paper is to present recent evidence on recognizing and treating addiction disorders that is relevant for generalist physicians. We conducted an electronic database (PubMed) search to systematically identify recent (January 1, 2003, to June 1, 2006), human subject, English language, peer-reviewed, research articles or publications that impact generalist care for patients with addiction disorders. The search strategy and consensus deliberations were used to identify important articles in the categories of screening strategies for patients with alcohol problems and use of specific pharmacotherapies for patients with alcohol, nicotine, and opioid dependence. …
