일 대학병원에서의 알코올 의존 환자의 외래 추적시 12개월 추적률

12-Month Follow-up Rates of Alcohol Dependent Patients at a University Hospital

Alcohol dependence has high prevalence and recurrence rates. To reduce these recurrence rates, alcohol dependent patients must receive continuous follow-up. However, our country has rarely studied follow-up rates for these patients. Therefore, in this study, we retrospectively investigated 3-month and 12-month ambulant follow-up rates by reviewing the hospital charts of alcohol-de-pendent patients who had received treatment in a university hospital from 2001 to 2005. The results were as follows：1) During the 5 year period, 26.6% of subjects did not make a second hospital visit in the 3 months after their first visit, and statistical analyses of alcohol-dependent patients’ follow-up rates excluded them. The patient group that was ambulant for their first psychiatric examination (outpatients) showed significantly lower rates of incomplete hospital revisiting than did the hospitalized patient group (Inpatient). 2) Regarding the final subjects, the 3-month follow-up rates was 47.9%, and the 12-month follow-up rate was 12.1%. We found no differences between the outpatient and the inpatient groups in terms of the follow-up rates. In addition, com-pared to patients admitted by psychiatric residents, patients admitted by psychiatric specialists did not show significantly lower follow-up rates. This study is the first in our country to investigate the 12-month follow-up rates for both inpatients and outpatients in this population. This study shows the need for a prospective clinical study with more participants.