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Older Admissions to Substance Abuse Treatment in 2001

Received May 2, 2004; revised June 7, July 10, 2004; accepted July 16, 2004. From the Dept. of Psychiatry, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA (SA, TDG), the Dept. of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA (SA, LA), and the Iowa Consortium for Substance Abuse Research and Evaluation, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA (SA). Send correspondence and reprint requests to Stephan Arndt, Iowa Consortium for Substance Abuse Research and Evaluation, 100 Oakdale Campus M308 OH, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52246. e-mail: stephan-arndt{at}uiowa.edu
© 2005 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry

Objective: The number of older people with substance abuse problems is expected to increase over the next decade. Given the expected growth in the number of elderly clients needing substance abuse treatment, the authors provide a description of admissions of patients age 55 years and over to facilities receiving some public funds. Methods: The Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS), a public-use data-set, contained information on 58,073 admissions to substance treatment (age 55+) and 1,043,910 admissions age 30–54 years. Results: Older admissions listed only one substance—daily use of alcohol. Admission record notations indicated that these admissions were more frequently associated with income, insurance, and marriage or divorce than younger admissions. As in younger admissions, criminal justice was a major source of referral to treatment. Older patients’ admissions records indicated fewer previous treatment experiences. Older male and female admissions were similar in many regards, but differed in their treatment history. The current treatment admission was more often the first for female admissions. Older female admissions were likely to be more educated than their male counterparts, with a later age at onset. Conclusions: Older admissions to substance abuse treatment differed in important ways from younger adult admissions. The older admissions tended to come from a more stable environment (income, insurance, marriage). Despite their very high frequency and amount of drinking, few of these admissions were referred to treatment by healthcare workers.

Key Words: Substance Abuse Treatment