The value of acupuncture detoxification programs in a substance abuse treatment system

Our purpose is to compare baseline characteristics and detoxification readm ission rates of clients treated at outpatient acupuncture programs and at s hort-term residential programs, two options available to persons seeking su bstance abuse detoxification. This was a retrospective cohort study using d ata on clients discharged from publicly funded detoxification programs in B oston between January 1993 and September 1994. Multivariate models were use d to examine the effect on 6-month detoxification readmission rates of trea tment at residential detoxification programs (used by 6,907 clients) versus at outpatient acupuncture programs (used by 1,104 clients) after adjusting for baseline differences. Acupuncture clients were less likely to be readm itted for detoxification within 6 months (odds ratio [OR] 0.71, 95% confide nce interval [CI] 0.53-0.95). Similar results were found when the analysis was per formed on a subsample of clients that were relatively similar in te rms of baseline characteristics (OR 0.61, 95% CI 0.39-0.94). We determined that acupuncture detoxification programs are a useful component of a substa nce abuse treatment system. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reser ved.