Six of 10 adolescents discharged from substance abuse treatment completed program

Approximately 60% of adolescents discharged from substance abuse treatment in 2011 completed treatment, according to a short report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

“Among adolescents with illicit drug dependence or abuse, only 13.6% received substance use disorder treatment,” according to Ryan Mutter, PhD, of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and colleagues. “Receiving substance abuse treatment is associated with better outcomes for adolescents than not receiving it. Completing substance abuse disorder treatment is associated with reduced use of substances after treatment.”

To establish a profile of adolescents who enter treatment for substance abuse, researchers assessed data from the 2011 Treatment Episode Data Set-Discharges, a national data system of annual discharges from substance abuse treatment facilities. Data were available for 112,807 adolescents aged 12 to 17 years.

The majority of adolescents discharged from substance abuse treatment were male (71.7%) and received treatment in the ambulatory setting (81.2%).

Approximately 75% of adolescents reported marijuana as their primary substance of abuse when entering treatment.

Nearly half of adolescents (44.5%) admitted to substance abuse treatment in 2011 were referred by the criminal justice system.

The most common type of health insurance among adolescents discharged from treatment was Medicaid (44%), followed by private insurance (18.8%) and Medicare (11.1%). More than one-quarter (26%) of adolescent discharges were uninsured.

“Adolescent substance abuse treatment ended in completion for 60.4% of discharges. Patient pre-treatment characteristics, including having private insurance, residing with only one parent who is biologically related, coming from a family with a history of substance abuse and having experienced physical or sexual abuse have been shown to be associated with failure to complete treatment,” Mutter and colleagues wrote. “Research is needed to help design interventions to increase the rate of adolescent substance abuse treatment completion because treatment completion is associated with a reduction in substance use by adolescents.” – by Amanda Oldt

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.

Reference:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Profile of adolescent discharges from substance abuse treatment. Available at: http://www.samhsa.gov/data. Accessed June 23, 2015.