- Advise staying within these limits:
Maximum Drinking Limits
For healthy men up to age 65—
- no more than 4 drinks in a day AND
- no more than 14 drinks in a week
For healthy women (and healthy men over age 65)—
- no more than 3 drinks in a day AND
- no more than 7 drinks in a week
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- Recommend lower limits or abstinence as medically indicated; for example, for patients who
- take medications that interact with alcohol
- have a health condition exacerbated by alcohol
- are pregnant (advise abstinence)
- Express openness to talking about alcohol use and any concerns it may raise
- Rescreen annually
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- Your patient is an at-risk drinker.
For a more complete picture of the drinking pattern, determine the weekly
average:
- Record heavy drinking
days in the past year and the weekly average in the patient's chart (see page
27 for a downloadable baseline progress
note).
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