Patterns of Substance Abuse Treatment Seeking Following Cocaine-Related Emergency Department Visits
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-1-2011
Description
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, CI95=1.01-1.15, p=0.03), global severity index (OR=2.26, CI95=1.04-4.90, p=0.04), number of endorsed stigma barriers (OR= 4.40, CI95=1.41-13.78, p=0.01), interpersonal consequences (OR=1.41, CI95=1.01-1.88, p=0.02), and pre-baseline informal treatment (OR=6.69, CI95=1.58-28.36, p=0.01). Physical consequences were found to be negatively associated with a higher treatment category (OR=0.63, CI95= 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.
Citation Information
Fortney, John C.; Tripathi, Shanti Prakash; Walton, Maureen A.; Cunningham, Rebecca M.; and Booth, Brenda M.. 2011. Patterns of Substance Abuse Treatment Seeking Following Cocaine-Related Emergency Department Visits. Journal of Behavioral Health Services and Research. Vol.38(2). 221-233. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11414-010-9224-9 PMID: 20700660 ISSN: 1094-3412