A 6-Year Follow-Up of Alcoholics After Long-Term Outpatient Treatment

The predictors of the long‐term outcome in alcoholics (n= 50) who had been treated in a 2‐year outpatient treatment program were investigated. Previously, the sample had been followed up personally 2 years after the termination of treatment. This study is a repeated, independent follow‐up of the same sample over a 4‐year period, 3–6 years after termination of treatment. Outcome could be categorized in 38 subjects. Patients with a favorable outcome during at least 2 years of the 4‐year follow‐up period (n= 21), who were categorized as a positive outcome group, were compared with the other patients (n= 17). There was no significant correlation between initial patient characteristics and outcome 3–6 years after treatment. Drinking outcome during the 1st half‐year of treatment had no correlation to positive drinking outcome in years 3–6, whereas there was a positive correlation for later phases of treatment and outcome reaching a significant level during the 2nd and 4th half‐year of treatment. A favorable drinking outcome during years 1–2 after treatment had a positive significant correlation to outcome in years 3–6 after treatment [i.e., 80% of the patients with a favorable outcome during the 1st follow‐up period also had a positive outcome during the 2nd follow‐up period, and 72% of those who had an unfavorable outcome during the 1st follow‐up period had an unfavorable outcome also during the 2nd follow‐up period (x2 test = 10.4, p < 0.001). Psycho‐social adjustment at the 6‐year follow‐up did not differ significantly between subjects in the positive outcome group and subjects in the negative outcome group