Alcohol Brief Intervention Integrated With Mobile Chat-based Support for Risky Drinkers in Emergency Departments

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Alcohol Misuse

• Registration Number: NCT05018624
• Lead Sponsor: The University of Hong Kong

Brief Summary

This study aims to assess the effectiveness of chat-based intervention on reducing risky alcohol consumption to inform clinical practice for providing ABI to risky drinkers attending AED in Hong Kong.

Detailed Description

Alcohol use is a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases and 6th leading cause of death and disability-adjusted life years. The prevalence of alcohol consumption has increased since 2008 after introduction of zero tax on alcohol with strength \<30% (e.g., wine and beer) and due to promoting the city as Asia's wine hub. ABI reduced alcohol intake by about 20g/week at 12-month follow-up in primary healthcare populations. Given the relatively low prevalence of risky alcohol drinkers in Hong Kong, testing ABI in clinics may face difficulties in recruitment. Alcohol use is associated with problems such as injury and violence requiring accident and emergency department (AED) services, thus AEDs in Hong Kong are more feasible places to recruit subjects for delivering ABI.

Primary hypothesis: The Intervention group has significantly larger reduction of weekly alcohol consumption compared with the Control group at 12-month follow-up

Secondary hypotheses: Compared with the Control group, the Intervention group has lower AUDIT scores, fewer episodes of heavy/binge drinking, lower re-attendence at AED and reduced alcohol-related harms at 6-month and 12-month follow-up.

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2021-08-18
• Study First Submitted QC: 2021-08-18
• Study First Posted: 2021-08-24
• Study Start: 2022-05-23
• Primary Completion: 2024-09-30
• Study Completion: 2025-03-31
• Status Verified: 2025-07
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-07-29
• Last Update Posted: 2025-08-01

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 632

Inclusion Criteria

• HK resident able to read/communicate in Cantonese/Putonghua. This may exclude potential subjects from other countries with higher alcohol consumption than local Chinese, but quality of the chat-based intervention is important for the research hypothesis, and it will not be feasible to recruit other language speakers (e.g., English) in the present study.
• Aged ≥18 with proficiency in using IM Apps (e.g., WhatsApp, WeChat). Those aged <18 are excluded as other studies suggest they have different patterns of alcohol drinking and reduction from adult drinkers.

Exclusion Criteria

• Those unable to understand or receive face-to-face ABI due to severe traumatic injury, unconscious, or drunk patients unable to follow commands
• Anticipated to be admitted to in-patient department for >1 week, which will interfere with the chat-based intervention
• Having psychiatric/psychological diseases or receiving regular psychotropic medication
• Participating in other alcohol reduction or abstinence programmes

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Amount of alcohol consumption per week (gram/week) at 12-month follow-up	12-month after baseline	Assessed by unit in gram and compare the alcohol consumption between intervention and control group at 12-month after baseline.
Compare the primary outcome using intention-to-treat (ITT), per-protocol (PP) and as-treated (AP) analysis with Compliance Average Causal Effect (CACE) analysis	6-month after baseline	To estimate large, moderate and null (same as the control) treatment effects and check whether ITT, AP and PP analysis estimates are biased compared with CACE estimates (alcohol consumption per week at 6-month follow-up)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Amount of alcohol consumption per week (gram/week) at 3- and 6-month follow-ups	3 and 6 months after baseline	Assessed by unit in gram and compare the alcohol consumption between intervention and control group at 3- and 6-month after baseline.
Episode of binge drinking in the past 30-day at 3-, 6- and 12-month follow-ups	3, 6, and 12 months after baseline	Defined by 5 standard drink \[male\] or 4 standard drink \[female\] in one occasion for binge drinking and compared between intervention and control group at 3-, 6-, and 12-month
Planned drinking measured in the coming 30-day at 3-, 6- and 12-month follow-ups	3, 6, and 12 months after baseline	Compare the number of planned drinking (yes or no) between intervention group and control group at 3-, 6- and 12-month follow-ups
AUDIT scores at 3-, 6- and 12-month follow-ups	3, 6 and 12 months after baseline	Assessed by Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (ranged 0-40 with higher score indicating problematic alcohol use) and compare the AUDIT between intervention and control group at 3-, 6- adn 12-month after baseline.
Number of standard drinks (10g of alcohol) per week at 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups	3, 6 and 12 months after baseline	Assessed by either increase or decrease in standard drinks number and compared between intervention and control group at 3-, 6-, and 12-month
Episode of heavy drinking in the past 30-day at 3-, 6- and 12-month follow-ups	3, 6, and 12 months after baseline	Defined by 15 standard drink \[male\] or 8 standard drink\[female\] in a week for heavy drinking and compared between intervention and control group at 3-, 6-, and 12-month
Re-attendance of AED at 3-, 6- and 12-month follow-ups	3, 6, and 12 months after baseline	Ask for attendance of AED (yes/no) in the past 3 months at 3-, 6- and 12-month follow-ups
Health status of participants at 12-month	12 months after baseline	Measured by EQ-5D-5L. Comprises five dimensions (MOBILITY, SELF-CARE, USUAL ACTIVITIES, PAIN /DISCOMFORT and ANXIETY / DEPRESSION), each dimension has five response levels:no problems, slight problems, moderate problems, severe problems, unable to/extreme problems. The participant is asked to indicate his/her health state by checking the box next to the most appropriate response level. Responses are coded as single-digit numbers expressing the severity level selected in each dimension. Extreme problem is coded as 5, severe problem is coded as 4, moderate is coded as 3, slight problem is coded as 2 and no problem is coded as 1.
Current health of participants at 12-month	12 months after baseline	Measured by EQ VAS. Participant is asked to rate his/her health on a vertical visual analogue scale. The scale is numbered from 0-100.100 means the best health, 0 is the worst. Participant will put a "cross" on the scale to indicate his/her current health.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

School of Nursing, The University of Hong Kong; 🇭🇰 Hong Kong, Hong Kong