title: Discriminating drug-dependent women from alcoholic women and drug-dependent men.
abstract: The authors compared 99 drug-dependent women to 162 alcoholic women and 66 drug-dependent men entering an outpatient treatment program. They were assessed by a semistructured interview for demography, progression of dependence prior to entering treatment, prior suicidal behavior, and baseline functioning in different areas (alcohol/drug use, occupation, family relationships, and leisure activities). Discriminant analysis techniques were good at predicting group membership for all groups, with an overall correct classification of 69%; though at a lesser degree for the group of drug-dependent women (55%). Among those drug-dependent women misclassified, two-thirds were reclassified into the drug-dependent men group and the remaining third into the alcoholic women group. Taken together, these findings suggest that the drug-dependent women are a distinct group of substance users, who show more heterogeneous characteristics, as well as sharing more features with the drug-dependent men. This should be taken into account when devising treatment strategies for this specific population.
authors.affiliation: Addiction Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, 1403-29th Street NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 2T9. monica.zilberman@calgaryhealthregion.ca
authors.forename: Monica L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Zilberman
authors.forename: Hermano
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tavares
authors.forename: Arthur G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Andrade
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000145:classification; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011287:Prejudice; D012737:Sex Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000145:classification* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D016896:Treatment Outcome