Mortality risk in a cohort of Italian alcoholic individuals treated for alcohol dependence.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the mortality risk, and to explore the presence of subjects more at risk of dying in a cohort of the alcoholic individuals treated for alcohol dependence (AD) over a lengthy follow-up period. Method: 2363 subjects attending ten centers for addiction treatment (CATs) for AD were recruited. Results: During the 17-year follow-up period, 14.7% of the whole cohort died. Total SMR higher in females (SMR = 5.94) as compared with males (SMR = 4.65). Higher SMRs were found for several diseases, for traumatic episodes (SMR = 6.65), and in younger patients (18-44 age group) (SMR = 8.16). Alcoholic females showed a higher survival rate as compared to males. In addition, a higher risk of death for males and unemployed subjects, with a progressive increase of risk in line with the increase of the age of admission to treatment, and with a progressive decrease of risk after 1 year from the beginning of the treatment, was also found. Conclusions: This study confirms that mortality risk in alcoholic individuals in treatment is higher in comparison to the general population. Morever, alcoholics males, un-employed, <40 years at time of admission, and during the first year of treatment, are more at risk to die. Thus, much more attention in patients with these characteristics may be planned by the professional staff working in CATs.