Health, Medical and Psychosocial Care Needs of Older Drug Addicts (40+): A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

We aimed 1) to assess health, health-related quality of life and social care needs of substance-abusing individuals aged 40+ and 2) to investigate associations between health and psychosocial care needs. We estimated the size of the population by using capture-recapture methods. Based on this sample size estimation, we conducted a cross-sectional survey with socio-demographic data, using standardized instruments including the SF-36 (36 items), a measure of physical disorders (14 items), social support, and psychosocial and health care needs and substance abuse ("European Addiction Severity Index"). 37 persons participated in this study (30% women), 89% reported at least one disorder. The general health perceptions (p=0.011), vitality (p<0.001), social functioning (p<0.001), mental health (p<0.001) and physical health dimension (p=0.007) and mental health dimension (p<0.001) were significantly lower in this sample than in the German normal population (51-60 years). 54% reported having support needs. Health-related quality of life and social functioning are major problems for older substance-abusing individuals. There is a great need to have specific healthcare concepts to respond to the medical and psychosocial care needs of this group of individuals.