Citation

Holroyd S, Currie L, Thompson-Heisterman A, Abraham I. Am. J. Geriatr. Psychiatry 1997; 5(3): 221-228.

Affiliation

University of Virginia, Department of Psychiatric Medicine, Blue Ridge Hospital, Charlottesville 22901, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1097/00019442-199700530-00006

PMID

9209564

Abstract

Alcohol-related disorders, estimated to be more prevalent in the South, are associated with serious comorbid disorders, such as depression and suicide. In a rural outreach program, the authors examined patients with a diagnosis of alcoholism and compared them with nonalcoholic patients on various demographic and descriptive variables. Of 166 patients referred to the program, 35 (21.1%) had an alcohol-related disorder. Alcoholism was significantly associated with male gender and younger age, but nearly half of the alcoholic subjects were women. Alcoholism is associated with inappropriate health care utilization; alcohol-related disorders produced significantly more emergency room visits and somewhat more hospital admission; these patients were less likely to have a primary care physician. No patient was receiving treatment for alcoholism.

Language: en