Letters To The Editor
Copyright ©2009 The WJG Press and Baishideng. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Dec 21, 2009; 15(47): 6010-6011
Published online Dec 21, 2009. doi: 10.3748/wjg.15.6010
Frequency of alcohol and smoking cessation counseling in hepatitis C patients among internists and gastroenterologists
Tanu Chandra, Mary Reyes, Huy Nguyen, Marie Borum
Tanu Chandra, Mary Reyes, Huy Nguyen, Marie Borum, Division of Gastroenterology and Liver Disease, George Washington University Hospital, 1320 N. Veitch Street Apt 1308, Arlington, VA 22201, United States
Author contributions: Chandra T and Reyes M contributed equally to this work; Chandra T and Reyes M designed the research; Nguyen H and Reyes M preformed the chart review and collected the data; Chandra T and Borum M drafted the article and revised it critically for important intellectual content; Borum M provided final approval of the version to be published.
Correspondence to: Tanu Chandra, MD, Division of Gastroenterology and Liver Disease, George Washington University Hospital, 1320 N. Veitch Street Apt 1308, Arlington, VA 22201, United States. tanu.chandra@gmail.com
Telephone: +1-518-8595619 Fax: +1-703-5254774
Received: March 23, 2009
Revised: September 26, 2009
Accepted: October 3, 2009
Published online: December 21, 2009
Abstract

Given the overwhelming evidence that both alcohol consumption and smoking accelerate the progression of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-induced liver disease, we evaluated the frequency of alcohol and smoking counseling of patients with HCV-induced liver disease by their primary care internists and gastroenterologists. One hundred and twenty-three medical records of consecutive patients with HCV-induced liver disease referred by an internist to a gastroenterologist for its management were reviewed. Patient gender, race, history of and counseling against alcohol and tobacco use by a physician and a gastroenterologist were obtained. A database was created using Microsoft Excel. There were 105 African-Americans, 12 Caucasians and six patients of other races/ethnicities. Forty-six (37%) patients were daily tobacco users and 34 (28%) patients were daily alcohol consumers. There was a statistically significant difference in the frequencies of alcohol (P = 0.0002) and smoking cessation (P = 0.0022) between gastroenterologists and internists. This study reveals that internists and gastroenterologists, alike, inadequately counsel patients with hepatitis C about tobacco and alcohol use.

Keywords: Alcohol, Hepatitis C virus, Counseling, Smoking, Hepatocellular carcinoma