title: Gender differences in seven-year alcohol and drug treatment outcomes among older adults.
abstract: This study examined participants at seven-year follow-up to assess long-term outcomes of older women (n = 25) and men (n = 59) ages 55 and over in an outpatient addiction program. It measured demographic characteristics, alcohol and drug use, psychiatric symptoms, Addiction Severity Index, treatment length, and outcomes. At seven years, 76.0% of women reported abstinence in the prior 30 days versus 54.2% of men, p = .05. Logistic regression analysis found that longer treatment stay predicted abstinence. Findings indicate that older women have better long-term addiction outcome than older men, but treatment length is more significant than gender in predicting outcome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA. dereks@lppi.ucsf.edu
authors.forename: Derek D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Satre
authors.forename: Frederic C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Blow
authors.forename: Felicia W
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Chi
authors.forename: Constance
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Weisner
mesh_terms: D000359:Aftercare; D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012657:Self-Help Groups; D012737:Sex Factors; D012944:Social Support; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome