Health issues in the Arab American community. Arab Americans in publicly financed substance abuse treatment.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the characteristics of Arab Americans receiving treatment and to compare them with individuals of other ethnic groups.

METHODS

We used admission data (FY2005) for Michigan publicly funded substance abuse treatment (N=69,989). Arab American ethnicity (n=224 or 0.3% of admissions) was defined by codes for race, ethnicities or primary language of Arabic (n=21). Other ethnicities examined were American Indian, Hispanic, African American, and White.

RESULTS

The number of Arab American admissions was lower than expected for the population (RR=0.25). Admissions were concentrated (81%) in metropolitan Detroit as is the community (82%, RR=.99), unlike other ethnicities. Primary drugs of abuse were alcohol (34.8%), marijuana (17.9%), heroin (17.4%) and crack cocaine (15.6%). Mean duration of use (11.2 yrs) was significantly lower than for other ethnicities. Arab American admissions were predominately male (76.3%), unemployed (62.1%) and with criminal justice involvement (58%), similar to other ethnicities.

DISCUSSION

Using administrative database has its limits and may misclassify ethnicities. Based upon the available data, it appears that Arab Americans accounted for a small percentage of admissions to publicly funded substance abuse treatment in Michigan. Most of the admissions listed English as the primary language, raising concern that language may be a barrier to entry. Admission profiles were generally similar across ethnicities, except that Arab Americans were entering treatment after shorter duration of use. These data can inform development of treatment programs and outreach efforts.