Gender and racial/ethnic differences in addiction severity, HIV risk, and quality of life among adults in opioid detoxification: results from the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network

Figures & data

Table 1 Selected characteristics of adult patients in opiate detoxification treatment (n = 343)

Demographics	Total
Age, mean (SD)	37.5 (10.16)
Years of education, mean (SD)	12.6 (2.06)
Gender, n (%)
Male	233 (67.9)
Female	110 (32.1)
Race/ethnicity, n (%)
White	155 (45.2)
African American	106 (30.9)
Hispanic	69 (20.1)
Other	13 (3.8)
Marital status, n (%)
Married or cohabitating	94 (27.4)
Separated, divorced, or widowed	89 (26.0)
Never married	160 (46.7)
Past month employment, n (%)
Employed	169 (49.3)
Unemployed/not employed	174 (50.7)
Treatment modality, n (%)
Inpatient detoxification	113 (32.9)
Outpatient detoxification	230 (67.1)

Abbreviation: SD, standard deviation.

Table 2 Substance use, addiction severity (ASI), HIV risk (HRBS), and quality of life (SF-36) by gender among adult patients in opiate detoxification treatment (n = 343)

Study variables	Male (n = 233)	Female (n = 110)	P valuea
Past month substance use, %
Alcohol use to intoxication	20.6	16.4	0.35
Heroin	94.0	80.9	<0.01
Other opioids	22.3	43.7	<0.01
Sedatives/tranquilizers	18.5	31.8	<0.01
Cocaine	47.6	37.3	0.07
Amphetamines	6.4	6.4	0.98
Cannabis/marijuana	39.5	31.8	0.17
Nicotine/tobacco	86.7	86.4	0.93
Injection drug use	63.4	58.7	0.41
ASI composite score, mean (SE)
Medical problems	0.14 (0.02)	0.16 (0.03)	0.51
Drug use problems	0.33 (0.01)	0.33 (0.01)	0.66
Alcohol use problems	0.08 (0.01)	0.03 (0.01)	<0.01
Employment problems	0.55 (0.02)	0.58 (0.03)	0.39
Legal problems	0.17 (0.01)	0.10 (0.02)	0.01
Psychiatric problems	0.19 (0.01)	0.24 (0.02)	0.03
Family/social problems	0.07 (0.01)	0.11 (0.02)	0.02
HRBS HIV risk score, mean (SE)
HIV total risk	12.2 (0.58)	12.3 (0.90)	0.90
Injection drug use risk	6.9 (0.41)	6.9 (0.64)	0.98
Sexual risk	5.3 (0.38)	5.5 (0.55)	0.87
SF-36 quality of life score, mean (SE)
Physical functioning	82.9 (1.51)	83.8 (1.91)	0.71
Role limitation due to physical health	56.7 (2.81)	60.6 (4.09)	0.44
Role limitation due to emotional problems	57.3 (2.94)	47.2 (4.31)	0.05
Vitality/energy	47.7 (1.39)	37.9 (2.05)	<0.01
Emotional well-being	58.6 (1.35)	48.5 (2.03)	<0.01
Social functioning	60.9 (1.83)	57.2 (2.72)	0.26
Pain	62.0 (1.85)	56.6 (2.49)	0.09
General health	64.6 (1.44)	65.1 (2.04)	0.85

Note:

a P value: χ² for proportion or t-test for mean.

Abbreviations: SE, standard error; ASI, Addiction Severity Index; HIV, human immunodeficiency virus; HRBS, HIV Risk Behavior Scale.

Table 3 Substance use, addiction severity (ASI), HIV risk (HRBS), and quality of life (SF-36) by race and ethnicity among adult patients in opiate detoxification treatment (n = 343)

Study variables	White (n = 155)	African American (n = 106)	Hispanic (n = 69)	Other (n = 13)	P valuea
Past month use, %
Alcohol use to intoxication	18.7	21.7	18.8	7.7	0.67
Heroin	82.6	97.2	97.1	76.9	<0.01
Other opioids	45.8	10.7	18.8	38.5	<0.01
Sedatives/tranquilizers	37.4	4.4	17.4	23.1	<0.01
Cocaine	40.0	57.6	36.2	30.8	<0.01
Amphetamines	10.3	0	4.3	7.7	0.01
Cannabis/marijuana	43.2	35.8	26.1	30.8	0.09
Nicotine/tobacco	84.5	89.6	91.3	61.5	0.02
Injection drug use	69.5	41.9	72.5	76.9	<0.01
ASI composite score, mean (SE)
Medical problems	0.18 (0.02)	0.13 (0.03)	0.10 (0.03)	0.22 (0.09)	0.12
Drug use problems	0.34 (0.01)	0.32 (0.01)	0.33 (0.01)	0.35 (0.02)	0.41
Alcohol use problems	0.05 (0.01)	0.09 (0.01)	0.07 (0.01)	0.05 (0.03)	0.07
Employment problems	0.47 (0.02)	0.72 (0.03)	0.54 (0.04)	0.47 (0.08)	<0.01
Legal problems	0.14 (0.02)	0.16 (0.02)	0.16 (0.02)	0.11 (0.04)	0.59
Psychiatric problems	0.24 (0.02)	0.13 (0.02)	0.27 (0.02)	0.22 (0.09)	<0.01
Family/social problems	0.10 (0.01)	0.03 (0.01)	0.11 (0.02)	0.11 (0.05)	<0.01
HRBS HIV risk score, mean (SE)
HIV total risk	12.6 (0.72)	9.0 (0.73)	16.2 (1.19)	12.7 (2.31)	<0.01
Injection drug use risk	7.9 (0.53)	4.3 (0.54)	8.5 (0.77)	7.4 (1.64)	<0.01
Sexual risk	4.7 (0.45)	4.6 (0.52)	7.6 (0.80)	5.3 (1.29)	<0.01
SF-36 quality of life score, mean (SE)
Physical functioning	84.2 (1.77)	80.5 (2.12)	85.8 (2.68)	79.6 (6.50)	0.37
Role limitation due to physical health	56.2 (3.37)	59.6 (4.20)	60.1 (5.30)	53.8 (13.53)	0.87
Role limitation due to emotional problems	49.4 (3.68)	60.5 (4.21)	53.6 (5.49)	61.5 (12.85)	0.24
Vitality/energy	39.6 (1.66)	51.2 (2.13)	46.3 (2.45)	43.1 (7.41)	<0.01
Emotional well-being	50.8 (1.65)	61.0 (2.19)	57.4 (2.09)	53.8 (8.28)	<0.01
Social functioning	56.2 (2.16)	68.5 (2.65)	53.4 (3.40)	65.4 (8.97)	<0.01
Pain	56.6 (2.10)	62.6 (2.64)	66.0 (3.74)	55.6 (9.28)	0.08
General health	62.1 (1.69)	66.2 (2.33)	67.8 (2.27)	69.2 (7.00)	0.19

Note:

a P value: χ² for proportion or F test for mean.

Abbreviations: SE, standard error; ASI, Addiction Severity Index; HIV, human immunodeficiency virus; HRBS, HIV Risk Behavior Scale.

Table 4 Summary of adjusted analyses of gender difference in substance use, addiction severity (ASI), HIV risk (HRBS), and quality of life (SF-36) among adult patients in opiate detoxification treatment (n = 343)

Regression coefficients β (SE) from adjusted proceduresa	Male versus female
Past month substance use
Heroin	1.3 (0.41)b
Other opioids	−0.9 (0.28)b
ASI composite score
Alcohol use problems	0.1 (0.01)c
Legal problems	0.1 (0.02)c
Psychiatric problems	−0.1 (0.03)c
Family/social problems	−0.03 (0.02)c
SF-36 quality of life score
Vitality/energy	0.3 (0.10)b
Emotional well-being	0.2 (0.06)b

Notes:

a Adjusted linear regression analyses were conducted for continuous variables; adjusted logistic regression analyses were conducted for binary variables; each model included age, years of education, gender, racial/ethnic status, marital status, employment status, and treatment modality

b P ≤ 0.01

c P ≤ 0.05.

Abbreviations: SE, standard error; ASI, Addiction Severity Index; HIV, human immunodeficiency virus; HRBS, HIV Risk Behavior Scale.

Table 5 Summary of adjusted analyses of racial/ethnic differences in substance use, addiction severity (ASI), HIV risk (HRBS), and quality of life (SF-36) among adult patients in opiate detoxification treatment (n = 343)

Regression coefficients β (SE) from adjusted proceduresa	African American versus white	Hispanic versus white
Past month substance use
Heroin	1.6 (0.68)b	1.4 (0.79)
Other opioids	−1.8 (0.41)c	−1.1 (0.39)
Sedatives/tranquilizers	−2.0 (0.52)c	−0.7 (0.40)
Cocaine	0.7 (0.31)b	−0.3 (0.32)
Cannabis/marijuana	−0.2 (0.32)	−1.0 (0.36)b
Injection drug use	−1.3 (0.33)c	−0.2 (0.36)
ASI composite score
Alcohol use problems	0.04 (0.02)b	0.03 (0.02)
Employment problems	0.2 (0.03)c	0.04 (0.04)
Psychiatric problems	−0.1 (0.03)c	0.04 (0.03)
Family/social problems	−0.04 (0.02)b	0.02 (0.02)
HRBS HIV risk score
HIV total riske	−0.4 (0.14)c	0.1 (0.15)
Injection drug use riske	−0.7 (0.16)d	−0.03 (0.17)
Sexual riske	0.1 (0.15)	0.4 (0.16)c
SF-36 quality of life score
Role limitation due to emotional problems	0.8 (0.31)c	−0.01 (0.33)
Vitality/energy	0.4 (0.12)c	0.3 (0.13)c
Emotional well-being	0.2 (0.08)d	0.2 (0.08)b
Social functioning	0.2 (0.11)c	−0.2 (0.12)

Notes:

a Adjusted linear regression analyses were conducted for continuous variables; adjusted logistic regression analyses were conducted for binary variables; each model included age, years of education, gender, racial/ethnic status, marital status, employment status, and treatment modality

b P ≤ 0.05

c P ≤ 0.01

d P ≤ 0.001

e β (SE): HIV total risk score for Hispanics versus African Americans = 0.5 (0.17);^c Injection drug use risk score for Hispanics versus African Americans = 0.7 (0.19);^d injection drug use risk score for members of other race/ethnicity versus African Americans = 0.7 (0.34).^b

Abbreviations: SE, standard error; ASI, Addiction Severity Index; HIV, human immunodeficiency virus; HRBS, HIV Risk Behavior Scale.