Alcohol, Drug Abuse Impairs Treatment

Fourteen percent of patients admitted to the hospital have alcohol, drug abuse and addiction disorders, U.S. researchers said.

Patricia B. Santora and Heidi E. Hutton of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore analyzed 43,000 patients with alcohol/drug abuse and addiction disorders — mainly in addition to other medical diagnoses — who were admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1994 to 2002.

About one-half of the patients used a combination of two or more drugs, one-fourth used alcohol only, and the rest used opioids such as heroin or cocaine only. The number of opioid abusers rose sharply during the period studied, reflecting the recent resurgence of heroin in Baltimore.

Patients on Medicaid/Medicare and uninsured patients were more likely to have drug addictions, while patients with private insurance were more likely to abuse alcohol only, the researchers said.

However, the study published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, said about 1 percent of patients had an alcohol/drug abuse and addiction disorders as their only diagnosis — the remaining 99 percent had other medical problems as well.

The researchers said healthcare providers should screen for alcohol and drug abuse and provide intervention because it increases the likelihood that patients will not follow their prescribed care.