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Patterns of substance abuse treatment seeking following cocaine-related emergency department visits.

Fortney JC, Tripathi SP, Walton MA, Cunningham RM, Booth BM. Patterns of substance abuse treatment seeking following cocaine-related emergency department visits. The journal of behavioral health services & research. 2011 Apr 1; 38(2):221-33.

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Abstract:

Chest pain is the most common medical complaint among cocaine-using emergency department (ED) patients. Correlates of substance abuse treatment seeking were examined using 3-month post-discharge surveys from 170 ED patients admitted with cocaine-related chest pain. Four treatment categories were specified as the dependent variable in an ordered logistic regression: no treatment (74.7%), informal treatment only (7.1%), formal treatment only (5.9%), and both formal and informal treatment (12.4%). The following variables were found to be positively associated with a higher treatment category: frequency of cocaine use (OR? = 1.07, CI(95)? = 1.01-1.15, p? = 0.03), global severity index (OR? = 2.26, CI(95)? = 1.04-4.90, p? = 0.04), number of endorsed stigma barriers (OR? = 4.40, CI(95)? = 1.41-13.78, p? = 0.01), interpersonal consequences (OR? = 1.41, CI(95)? = 1.01-1.88, p? = 0.02), and pre-baseline informal treatment (OR? = 6.69, CI(95)? = 1.58-28.36, p? = 0.01). Physical consequences were found to be negatively associated with a higher treatment category (OR? = 0.63, CI(95)? = 0.47-0.85, p? < 0.01). ED visits for cocaine-related chest pain represent missed opportunities to link patients to substance abuse treatment, and interventions are needed to motivate patients to seek care.




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