Unintended consequences: Alcohol screening at urban Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services was suppressed during COVID-19 lockdowns.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Regular screening for risky drinking is important to improve the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. We explored whether the rate of screening for risky drinking using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption (AUDIT-C) questions was disrupted at Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHS) during state-wide and territory-wide COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020.

Methods

Retrospective analysis of screening data from 22 ACCHSs located in New South Wales, the Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia. These services provide holistic and culturally appropriate primary care. A multi-level Poisson regression, including AR(1) autocorrelation, was used to predict counts of AUDIT-C screenin

SUBMITTER: Conigrave JH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10946595 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature