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,