Doctors Often Don’t Ask Teen Patients About Drinking

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Many doctors don’t ask their teenage patients about their drinking, a new study finds. A survey of 10th graders found that while more than 80 percent had seen a doctor in the past year, only 54 percent of them were asked about drinking, and 40 percent were advised about the dangers of alcohol.

 

The survey of more than 2,500 teenagers was conducted by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), MedicalXpress reports. Researchers found 34 percent of the teens said they drank alcohol in the past month. In the journal Pediatrics, lead author Ralph W. Hingson, ScD, MPH, reported 26 percent said they had binged, defined as five or more drinks in one sitting for males, and four or more for females.

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News Source: National Institutes of Health