Alcohol risk drinking, quality of life and health state among patients treated at the Sobering Unit in the emergency department – One year follow-up study

Methods This was a quasi-experimental study without control group (one-year follow-up). Alcohol use of patients in emergency department (Sobering Unit) in specialized care in Finland (AUDIT–test), quality of life (EQ-5D-3L) and health state (EQ VAS) at baseline, three months, six months and one year following the brief intervention were analyzed with Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test. Results The patients’ alcohol risk use decreased statistically significantly after the treatment period at the Sobering Unit. The patients’ health-related quality of life did not change statistically significantly during three months following the treatment period, whereas a statistically significant increase took place after six months. Self-perceived health status improved statistically significantly between the treatment period and three- and six-month follow up time points. Conclusions The study gave some suggestive evidence that a brief intervention could be effective for harmful drinkers or alcohol-dependent patients when used in an emergency department. The Sobering Unit in the emergency department is one solution to encourage patients to pay attention to their alcohol risk drinking.