Factors associated with a quality of life decrease in alcoholic patients who sought treatment

Abstract

Objective: We investigate the quality of life (QoL) of subjects with alcohol abuse/dependence, and we focus on aspects that are associated with alcohol consumption. Methods: We included inpatients and outpatients (n=174) of an addiction treatment program. All of the patients had had problems related to alcohol within the last 30 days. We used the WHOQOL-BREF to measure the patients’ QoL, and we used the ASI-6 to investigate the severity of problems related to alcohol and substance use. The main outcome measures considered for the linear regression analyses were the WHOQOL-BREF domains. The independent factors were the scores in the ASI-6 areas. Results: We found a negative correlation between the WHOQOL-BREF and the ASI-6. Significant correlations were included in the multiple linear regression pattern, which considered p<0.05 to be the cut off of statistical significance. We examined the regression analyses between the ASI-6 summary scores and the WHOQOL-BREF domains using variables that presented statistical significance in the correlation analysis. All ASI-6 problem areas showed negative correlations with domains. Conclusion: The decrease in QoL was not directly linked to the severity of alcohol use but rather with its consequences. The ASI-6 medical area was associated with a lower QoL in all of its domains. Measures of the problems related to alcohol misuse seem to be a significant predictor of QoL scores; the more often that alcohol is a problem in a patient’s life, the worse the patient’s QoL will be. Instead of treatment, other strategies should be developed to address these problem areas to not only reduce substance use but also to significantly improve the QoL of alcoholics.