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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 5, 1992                   TAG: 9202050023
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHICAGO                                LENGTH: Short

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DOCTOR'S WARNING HELPS

A doctor's simple warning to an alcoholic to stop drinking can boost the drinker's recovery, say researchers who also found that physicians seldom gave such advice.

Of 148 drinkers who had seen a physician before entering an employee-assistance program, only 33 recalled having been warned to stop drinking, said the study, led by Diana Chapman Walsh of the Harvard School of Public Health.

Two years later, those 33 were staying sober at a rate of 63.6 percent, compared with 32.2 percent among the 115 who recalled no warning.

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