A case-matched comparison of readmission patterns between primary methamphetamine-using and primary cocaine-using adolescents engaged in inpatient substance-abuse treatment.

OBJECTIVE

In the United States and Canada, elevated patterns of methamphetamine-related treatment admissions among youth have triggered questions about appropriate substance-abuse treatment strategies for methamphetamine-using adolescents. This study aimed to provide a comparative examination of the readmission patterns of primary methamphetamine-using and primary cocaine-using adolescents to a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-based alcohol-and-drug inpatient treatment program.

METHODS

The current study employed a 5-year medical-chart review of all consecutive admissions to an inpatient, hospital-based substance-abuse treatment program for adolescents in northern British Columbia, Canada. After using a propensity-score-matching approach to construct a case-matched sample (n=202) of primary methamphetamine-using and primary cocaine-using adolescents, we employed a Kaplan-Meier survival analysis technique to test group differences in time-to-readmission.

RESULTS

The findings demonstrated that the methamphetamine group did not have a more severe time-to-readmission profile.

CONCLUSIONS

General CBT-based treatment-as-usual approaches appear to produce similar long-term readmission outcomes for these two groups of treatment-seeking adolescents.