Drinking problems.

This is a study of 54 patients referred for treatment of drinking problems. They were from two age groups--20 to 39 years and 40 to 59 years. More of the younger patients were referred by their families and older patients by their doctors or other health professionals. The younger patients had a mean duration of 8.2 years of drinking and were more severely dependent on alcohol (higher mean SADQ score). The older patients' mean duration of drinking was 14.1 years and had a lower mean SADQ score. More younger patients had work and family problems, but did not differ significantly from the older patients in alcohol-related physical or mental disabilities.