NCJ Number
190819
Journal
Substance Use & Misuse Volume: 36 Issue: 8 Dated: 2001 Pages: 1111-1127
Date Published
2001
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This study compared baseline demographics, clinical characteristics, and substance-use patterns of 99 drug-abusing women seeking treatment in a Brazilian hospital with 162 women diagnosed with alcohol dependence.
Abstract
From 1986 to 1997, all drug-dependent women and all alcoholic women who sought treatment at the Institute of Psychiatry of the University of Sao Paulo (a public hospital) were included in this study. Most of the drug-dependent women in the study were dependent on cocaine (73.7 percent). The study found that compared with alcoholic women, drug-dependent women were more likely to be younger, have a higher educational level, be single or live alone, and have a job outside the home. They also had less alcohol-use related problems in the family, but they had more relatives with problems with drugs other than alcohol. Most of the drug abusers sought treatment on their own initiative and reported more past suicide attempts than did their alcoholic counterparts. Drug abusers sought treatment significantly earlier in their dependence careers than did alcoholics. Alcoholics had more psychiatric comorbidity. Differences between the drug-dependent and alcohol-dependent women persisted even when controlling for age. 8 tables and 27 references