Using 'heavy drinking days' to measure treatment effectiveness
Monday, April 25, 2016 - 12:01
in Health & Medicine
One of the challenges in evaluating the effectiveness of alcohol treatment is determining what constitutes a “good” outcome or meaningful improvement. While abstinence at the end of treatment is clearly a good outcome, a focus on abstinence ignores the benefits of patients reducing their drinking to less problematic levels so that they can function better and incur fewer social costs. This study estimates the relationship between drinking practices at the end of a treatment program and subsequent health-care costs, with an emphasis on heavy and non-heavy drinking levels.