An epidemiological study conducted in Japan in 2013 found approximately 1.07 million people to have alcohol dependence, and 10.36 million alcohol consumers were estimated to be at high risk for lifestyle-related diseases. The study also revealed that approximately 40,000 patients diagnosed with alcohol dependence receive treatment at specialist medical institutions, while most affected patients receive treatment at general medical institutions due to concurrent physical disorders resulting from excessive alcohol consumption. In Japan, treatment for alcohol use disorders has been provided at psychiatric institutions aiming to achieve alcohol abstinence only. Therefore, among patients with alcohol dependence, the distribution of target patients for treatment is skewed toward severe cases. Treatment results for patients with severe alcohol dependence show the long-term alcohol abstinence rate to be only about 20%. In order to perform early-stage intervention, i. e., to expand the intervention targets from those with severe alcohol dependence to alcohol use disorders, a brief intervention protocol, an intervention technique proven effective for alcohol consumption reduction, needs to be implemented at general medical institutions, with the addition of controlled drinking among the treatment goals.
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