입원 치료를 받은 여성 알코올리즘 환자의 퇴원 후 경과에 대한 연구

A follow-up Study of Inpatient Women Alcoholics

Background：There are few follow-up studies in women alcoholics, because the number of patients who are willing to admit psychiatric treatment is guite small and women alcoholics have been paid little attention. So we aimed to investigate women alcoholics’ treatment outcomes and clinical characteristic that related to the prognosis. Methods：We reviewed the medical records of women alcoholics who had been hospitalized in Seoul Natonal Mental Hospital for at least 2 weeks from 1995 to 1999, and then interviewed with patients and their family members by telephone. we classified 44 women alcoholics into 2 groups (recovering group and relapsed group), and compared their alcohol related history and clinical characteristics during admission and after discharge. Results：44 female alcoholics were classified into ‘relapsed group’ (N＝28, 63.6%) and ‘recovering group’ (N＝16, 36.4%). Among relapsed group, all patients were relapsed within 6 months after discharge. At the point of follow-up interivew, mean postdischarge period was 28.23±13.99 months. Among total patients, 5 patients attended to outpatient department or A.A. Relapsed group had a shorter duration of hospitalization, higher percentage of AMA (against medical advice) or forced discharge, and higher incidence of aggressive behaviors than recovering group. Recovering group had more tendency to return to work after discharge. Most common reason for recovery was familial support. Most common substitute for alcohol was religion. Conclusion：About 36.4% women alcoholic inpatients had recovered from alcholism. Risk factors of poor outcome were early dropout after discharge and history of aggressive behavior during admission, so we suggest that for better outcome careful management for these risk factors is necessary.