title: The long-term course of treated alcoholism: I. Mortality, relapse and remission rates and comparisons with community controls.
abstract: This study examines the course of alcoholism for a sample of patients who were followed 2 years and 10 years later after an index residential treatment episode. The alcoholic patients were 9.5 times as likely to die as matched community controls over the 8-year interval between the two follow-ups, a ratio considerably higher than that found in previous studies. Of the 83 surviving and successfully followed patients, 57% were classified as remitted at the 10-year follow-up. Of the patients classified as remitted at the 2-year follow-up and recontacted 8 years later, 77% had the same outcome status at the long-term follow-up, 67% of the initially relapsed patients retained that status at the 10-year follow-up. The 10-year remitted patients generally were functioning as well as matched, nonproblem-drinking community controls, whereas the relapsed patients exhibited dysfunction in a number of areas. Retrospective data on drinking patterns during each of the 6 years prior to the 10-year follow-up indicated a slight increase over time in the proportion of patients reporting abstinence or nonproblem drinking, with a concomitant decrease in the proportion indicating heavy or binge drinking. Overall, our data show a substantially elevated mortality risk among these alcoholic patients. For those patients who survive, however, the average course is one of modest improvement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterans Affairs, Palo Alto, California 94304.
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Finney
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Moos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000401:mortality / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D002423:Cause of Death; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012931:Social Environment