Take a drink? Doctors will make it a double

GPS don’t trust patients to tell the truth about their consumption, so reach for the ‘alcohol multiplier’

WHEN reporting their weekly alcohol intake to the doctor, many will have felt a strong temptation to subtract a few units to mask the real amount.

However, such tactics would appear to be a waste of time: doctors are wise to the trick and will double the figure. A survey of 191 GPS found they were unlikely to believe patients when they questioned them on their lifestyle habits.

Most used an “alcohol multiplier” – assuming that patients were likely to admit to drinking around half as much as they really do, the poll by Direct Line Life Insurance found.

A parallel survey of adults found many had little idea how much they were drinking – and even less idea on what constitutes a safe limit.

It follows warnings that the baby boomer generation is fast becoming the booziest age group, with men and women in their 70s suffering the results of decades of excess.

The Direct Line survey found that overall, GPS believed just 40 per cent of patients accurately represent how much alcohol they consume. Young women were the most likely to underestimate their intake.

And GPS reckoned 21 per cent of their patients had symptoms of high alcohol dependency, with a further 19 per cent showing moderate dependence. The survey of 2,000 adults found many admitted to being economical with the truth, when doctors asked them about drinking habits.

Advice from Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer, says men and women should drink no more than 14 units of alcohol a week. The guidance, which brought men’s limits down in 2016, followed tips from Dame Sally to women to “do as I do” and think about the risks of breast cancer before having a glass of wine.

Almost a third of those polled did not know what the limits were, and one in five said they regularly drank more. One in five said they did not keep track, while 16 per cent said “everyone misrepresents how much they drink”.

Almost as many – 14 per cent – feared being judged by their family doctor, with just as many deciding the information was irrelevant.

More than one in 10 admitted they were surprised by how much they were drinking, when they calculated their units, and said they revised down their total, telling their doctors their habits were in line with recommended guidelines.

Andrew Misell, a director at Alcohol Concern and Alcohol Research UK, said: “It really highlights our strange relationship with alcohol.

“We don’t mind joking about heavy drinking episodes, but we clam up when asked to talk seriously about how much we drink and why.”

Helen Clark, deputy director of drugs, alcohol and tobacco at Public Health England, said: “It’s all too easy for the amount of alcohol you drink to creep up on you.

“That’s why it’s important people try to keep track of how much they’re drinking.”