Health Assessment and Screening During Adolescence
1 Department of Pediatrics, North Shore University Hospital, Cornell University Medical College, 300 Community Dr, Manhasset, NY 11030
2 Department of Pediatrics, College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University, 630 W 168th St, New York, NY 10032
In Reply.
We appreciated the concerns expressed by Dr Schwartz regarding our recommendations for screening the alcohol- or drug-using adolescent. We agree that the classification of adolescent drug and alcohol use as advocated by MacDonald and others1,2 has yet to be standardized or validated. However, we believe that, for the practitioner trying to decide which teenager requires further evaluation, distinguishing between these various patterns of use provides a concrete approach that may be applied to the everyday setting.




