Who seeks public treatment for substance abuse in Brazil? Results of a multicenter study involving four Brazilian state capitals

OBJECTIVE: To assess the characteristics of alcohol and drug users who seek treatment at the Brazilian Unified Health System in Brazil.METHOD:A multicenter cross-sectional study involving five clinical and research centers located in four Brazilian state capitals was conducted with 740 in- and outpatients. The only exclusion criterion was the presence of neurological or severe psychiatric symptoms at the moment of the interview. The Addiction Severity Index (ASI-6) and the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) were used to assess the severity of substance use and the problems related.RESULTS: There were significantly more men than women in the sample; mean age was 36 years. The drug most frequently used at all sites was alcohol (78%), followed by cocaine/crack (51%). Alcohol was the drug that most commonly motivated treatment seeking, at all centers. ASI-6 Summary Scores for Recent Functioning (SS-Rs) were quite similar among centers. SS-Rs were compared between users who had never received treatment for psychoactive substance abuse (n = 265, 36.1%) and those who had already been treated at one or more occasions (n = 470, 63.9%). This analysis revealed significant differences between the groups in the drug, psychiatric symptoms, legal, and family/social problems areas (p