Demand for prior treatment in alcoholic patients.

The aim of this study is to analyze the use of health care resources by alcoholic patients. A prospective study of 176 patients (147 males, 29 females; mean age 42.9 years) diagnosed as alcohol dependent, according to criteria DSM-IV, has been carried out over one year (June 2002 to June 2003) in three centers of treatment for alcoholics in Castilla y León (Spain). Of the 176 patients, 67% had previously requested treatment for their alcoholism in other centers, mainly in mental-health (37.5%), emergency (34.1%), and primary care (31.8%). On average, they had requested treatment 2.27 times, the women more frequently than the men. The current study shows that alcohol-dependent patients frequently use health care services during the history of their dependence to treat their illness.