With the lack of alcohol screening, treatment and referral into primary care and other medical settings, there appears to be a gap in the potential for treatment. Likewise, despite the high co-occurrence and mortality associated with alcohol use disorders (AUDs) and tuberculosis (TB), there are no studies evaluating the effectiveness of integration of care.

As a result, researchers have now designed a trial study that will examine the effectiveness of integrating pharmacotherapy and behavioral treatments for AUDs into routine care for TB. The study was recently featured in Science Daily.

“In many primary-care settings, screening for drinking problems is not necessarily a routine part of visits,” said Shelly F. Greenfield, director of clinical and health services research and education in the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Program at McLean Hospital and corresponding author for the study.

“In many specialized medical settings, screening for alcohol problems is even less frequent,” she added. “For example, in clinics that treat TB, it would not be common practice to screen for alcohol problems, yet alcohol problems often co-occur among patients with TB.”

The study was conducted in Tomsk, Russia as the area offers high rates of both alcohol problems and tuberculosis. Alcohol disorders among this population are common and 50 percent of all TB patients meet the criteria for alcohol abuse or dependence sometime during their lifetime.

Greenfield noted that while alcohol disorders place people at increased risk for acquiring a number of diseases such as TB, it also places them at higher risk for poor outcome and death. Alcohol suppresses the immune system and alcohol hepatitis can complicate TB treatment. This trial is ongoing.