Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #101948

Ghazala Ansari, MPH¹, Alberto Coustasse, MD, MBA, MPH, DrPH², Claudia S. Coggin, MS, CHES³, Sue Lurie, PhD⁴, Heidi Venegas, MS, DrPHc³, and Fernando Trevino, PhD, MPH⁵. (1) School of Public Health, University of North Texas Health Science Center, at Fort Worth, 3500 Camp Bowie Blvd, Fort Worth, TX 76107, (2) Office of the Dean, University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, 3500 Camp Bowie Boulevard, Fort Worth, TX 76107-2699, (3) School of Public Health, University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, 3500 Camp Bowie Blvd, Fort Worth, TX 76107, 817/735-2360, ccoggin@hsc.unt.edu, (4) Social and Behavioral Department, School of Public Health, University of North Texas Health Science Center, at Fort Worth., 3500 Camp Bowie Blvd, Fort Worth, TX 76107, (5) Health Management and Policy, University of North Texas Health Science Center School of Public Health, 3500 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth, TX 76107

The purpose of this study was to explore the extent of health disparities among patients of different race and gender, living with drug and alcohol abuse. The study data was drawn from a medical detoxification program in a hospital in Texas. Secondary data analysis of 1342 cases from 3 fiscal years was reviewed. Age, gender, race, alcohol, cocaine, Opioid, multi-drug use, relapse, were analyzed using two way- contingency tables and the Chi-square distribution. Out of the total, 58.7% were male, 20% and 7.1% were African Americans and Hispanics, respectively. Alcohol represented the substance of choice (50.7%), followed by Opioid (37.4%) and cocaine (30.4%). Males were almost two times more likely to abuse alcohol than females (p<0.001), however, females were more likely to use Opioid than males (p<0.001). More than 28.8% of the subjects were using 2 or more drugs simultaneously, and around 12.8% of the patients were admitted for more than one relapse. Males were more likely to relapse after the first visit than their female counterparts (13.3% vs. 9.7%; p<0.001). In addition, White non-Hispanics were less likely to relapse after the first visit, compared to Hispanics (10.5% vs. 20%; p=0.004) and African Americans (10.5% vs. 14.9%; p=0.046). These findings suggest African Americans and Hispanics are at a much higher risk of relapsing compared to White non-Hispanics. Implications are for policy modifications, consumer education and prevention efforts towards these high risk groups that might reduce health disparities and the relapse incidence of this population.

Learning Objectives:

• •To evaluate health disparities and health care utilization of a Medical Detoxification program as related to race/ethnicity.
• •Describe the demographic, social, and clinical characteristics of a substance abuse treatment in a community hospital.
• •Discuss findings of a Medical Detoxification program in a community hospital.

Keywords: Alcohol Use, Drug Abuse Treatment

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.