S. Holroyd et al., A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF ELDERLY COMMUNITY-DWELLING ALCOHOLIC PATIENTS IN THE RURAL SOUTH, The American journal of geriatric psychiatry, 5(3), 1997, pp. 221-228
Alcohol-related disorders, estimated to be more prevalent in the South
, are associated with serious comorbid disorders, such as depression a
nd suicide. In a rural outreach program, the authors examined patients
with a diagnosis of alcoholism and compared them with nonalcoholic pa
tients on various demographic and descriptive variables. Of 166 patien
ts referred to the program 35 (21.1%) had an alcohol-related disorder
Alcoholism was significantly associated with male gender and younger a
ge, but nearly half of the alcoholic subjects were women. Alcoholism i
s associated with inappropriate health care utilization; alcohol-relat
ed disorders produced significantly more emergency room visits and som
ewhat more hospital admission; these patients were less likely to have
a primary care physician. No patient was receiving treatment for alco
holism.