Relationship between follow-up rates and treatment outcomes in substance abuse research: more is better but when is "enough" enough?
Addiction
; 95(9): 1403-16, 2000 Sep.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-11048358
ABSTRACT
AIMS:
To examine the effects of different follow-up rates on estimates of treatment outcome and predictive models thereof, and to specify participant characteristics associated with tracking difficulty.DESIGN:
An observational study using data collected for a randomized, experimental design.SETTING:
The King County Assessment Center in Seattle, Washington, an organization responsible for referral to publicly funded substance abuse treatment.PARTICIPANTS:
Substance-addicted individuals referred to publicly funded inpatient or outpatient treatment. MEASUREMENTS Standardized self-report instruments measuring substance use, substance use consequences and general functioning. Chart review was used to measure treatment entry and completion.FINDINGS:
There was a significant association between follow-up difficulty and outcomes related to addiction treatment and later substance use. However, outcome estimates based on 60% of the sample who were easiest to locate were only minimally different from those based on the 90-100% ultimately captured, and predictive models of outcome based on the 60% group were reasonably similar to those based on the final sample. Of baseline characteristics examined, only age was associated with later tracking difficulty.CONCLUSIONS:
Studies reporting follow-up rates below 70% may produce valid findings and study attrition may be largely unpredictable from participant characteristics at baseline. However, a number of factors such as type of population studied, geographical location of the sample, reasons for loss to follow-up and sample size must be considered when attempting to generalize the findings of this study.
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Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Substance-Related Disorders
Type of study:
Clinical_trials
/
Etiology_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
En
Journal:
Addiction
Journal subject:
TRANSTORNOS RELACIONADOS COM SUBSTANCIAS
Year:
2000
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country: