Baseline health status and quality of life after alcohol treatment for women with alcohol dependence

Background: Research suggests that women with alcohol use disorders (AUDs) experience more severe medical and social consequences from alcohol use compared to men, but little is known about health improvements following alcohol treatment.

Methods: This study sought to characterize the pre-treatment health status of 138 alcohol dependent women enrolled in 12 sessions of female-specific group or individual outpatient treatment and examine the degree to which alcohol treatment might promote positive quality of life changes. Quality of life was assessed using the World Health Organization Quality of Life measure at baseline and 3months later at the end of treatment.

Results: The most common health problems at baseline were: smoking cigarettes (34.1%), hypertension (31.2%), obesity (27.5%), arthritis (21.0%), high cholesterol (17.4%), heart problems (8.7%), and a history of cancer (7.2%). Significant improvements across physical, t(117)=4.67, p<0.001, d=0.42; psychological, t(117)=7.31, p<0.001, d=0.62; social, t(117)=3.18, p=0.002, d=0.28; and environmental, t(117)=2.39, p=0.018, d=0.17; quality of life domains were seen after treatment. Percent days abstinent during treatment was positively associated with overall health satisfaction and psychological health at the end of treatment.

Conclusions: Women presenting for outpatient treatment for alcohol use disorders report many comorbid negative health problems. Thus, it is important for both substance use and health care providers to consider the overlap of alcohol use problems and health domains. Furthermore, female-specific cognitive behavioral treatment for alcohol use disorders positively impacted multiple health domains for women, suggesting a potential transdiagnostic intervention to target co-occurring health and substance use problems.