[Referral to internal medicine for alcoholism: influence on follow-up care]. / Influencia de la derivación a un Servicio de Medicina Interna en el seguimiento de pacientes alcohólicos.
Rev Clin Esp
; 208(10): 499-505, 2008 Nov.
Article
em Es
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-19100131
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND AIMS:
The problem of high rates of patient drop-out in alcohol treatment programs is frequently reported in the literature. Our aim was to investigate if internal medicine referral could improve abstinence and retention rates in a cohort of alcoholic patients. PATIENTS ANDMETHODS:
A retrospective observational study was conducted comparing 200 alcoholic patients attending a psychiatric unit (group 1) with 100 patients attending both this unit and an internal medicine unit (group 2). We collected sociodemographic and clinical variables and analysed differences regarding abstinence and retention rates by means of univariate and multivariate analysis.RESULTS:
At 3 and 12 months follow-up, group 2 patients had higher retention and abstinence rates than group 1 patients. Multivariate analysis including potential confounding variables showed that independent predictors of one-year retention were internal medicine referral and being married. Independent predictors of one-year abstinence were being married, age > 44 years and receipt of drug treatment.CONCLUSIONS:
The higher retention rate found among patients referred to Internal Medicine specialists, a result that has not been previously reported to the best of our knowledge, emphasizes the importance of a multidisciplinary team approach in the treatment of alcoholism.
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Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Encaminhamento e Consulta
/
Alcoolismo
/
Medicina Interna
Tipo de estudo:
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Idioma:
Es
Revista:
Rev Clin Esp
Assunto da revista:
MEDICINA
Ano de publicação:
2008
Tipo de documento:
Article