Alexandre P K, Roebuck M C, French M T, Chitwood D D, McCoy C B
Health Services Research Center, University of Miami, Miami, Florida 33136, USA.
Recent Dev Alcohol. 2001;15:285-98. doi: 10.1007/978-0-306-47193-3_16.
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between problem drinking, health services utilization, and the cost of medical care in a community-based setting. In addition to descriptive analyses, these relationships were estimated with multivariate regression models. Data were collected in 1996 and 1997 through a standardized self-administered questionnaire designed to obtain important information on demographics, health status, morbidity, health care utilization, drug and alcohol use, and related lifestyle behaviors. The survey instrument also included the 10-item Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST-10), which was used to identify problematic alcohol users (PAUs). The empirical findings indicated that PAUs had a significantly higher number of outpatient visits, more emergency room episodes, and more admissions to a hospital than a combined group of nondrinkers and nonproblematic alcohol users (NPAUs). Analyses of total health care cost showed that the estimated differential in total cost for PAUs during the past year, including the interaction effect with problematic drug use, was $367. The total cost (full effect) for PAUs was composed of a main effect ($984) and an interaction effect (-$617). These findings have implications for substance abuse interventions and health care policy.
本研究的目的是在社区环境中考察问题饮酒、医疗服务利用以及医疗费用之间的关系。除描述性分析外，还使用多元回归模型对这些关系进行了估计。1996年和1997年通过一份标准化的自填问卷收集数据，该问卷旨在获取有关人口统计学、健康状况、发病率、医疗服务利用、药物和酒精使用以及相关生活方式行为的重要信息。调查工具还包括10项密歇根酒精中毒筛查测试（MAST - 10），用于识别有问题的酒精使用者（PAU）。实证研究结果表明，与不饮酒者和无问题酒精使用者（NPAU）的组合组相比，PAU的门诊就诊次数显著更多、急诊室就诊次数更多且住院次数更多。对总医疗费用的分析表明，过去一年PAU的总成本估计差异，包括与问题药物使用的交互效应，为367美元。PAU的总成本（完全效应）由主效应（984美元）和交互效应（-617美元）组成。这些发现对药物滥用干预措施和医疗政策具有启示意义。
