Outpatient cocaine abuse treatment: Predictors of success

In 1990 more than 238,000 patients in the United States entered treatment, with cocaine as their primary diagnosis. This represented 36 percent of the treatment admissions for substance abuse. This research project uses data from the U.S. Army's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Program to analyze which treatment and demographic variables have an effect on coca ine treatment outcomes. The sample included 3602 soldiers entered into trea tment between 1983 and 1992 for cocaine abuse. The logistical regression re sults suggested the following treatment variables had an effect on outcomes : the type of treatment provided, the length of time in treatment, the numb er of different types of drugs being abused prior to treatment, and the len gth of time since the patient had abused cocaine prior to entering treatmen t. Race of the patient had an impact on treatment outcomes, but gender, edu cational level, age, rank of the soldier, marital status, and length of tim e in the military did not have an impact on treatment outcomes.