Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients engaged in primary care and screened for unhealthy substance use (SU) in Boston, Massachusetts between 2007 and 2009*
| Variable | Unhealthy SU n=975 (%) | No unhealthy SU n=9020 (%) | p Value |
| Mean (SD) age | 52.1 (12.3) | 54.7 (12.5) | <0.001 |
| Gender, female | 52.0 | 72.6 | <0.0001 |
| Language | |||
| English | 93.5 | 73.2 | <0.0001 |
| Spanish | 4.4 | 7.6 | |
| Haitian Creole | 0.7 | 9.5 | |
| Other | 1.3 | 9.7 | |
| Race† | |||
| White | 21.6 | 15.9 | <0.0001 |
| Black/African–American | 63.3 | 55.3 | |
| Hispanic/Latino | 10.8 | 31.1 | |
| Other | 4.3 | 15.8 | |
| Insurance | |||
| Medicare | 29.3 | 29.8 | <0.0001 |
| Health maintenance organization | 20.1 | 26.3 | |
| Medicaid | 22.8 | 17.4 | |
| Free care | 5.5 | 7.7 | |
| Commonwealth care‡ | 20.0 | 16.1 | |
| Other | 2.3 | 2.6 | |
| Six or more primary care visits over study period | 51.9 | 53.8 | 0.25 |
| Significant medical comorbidity§ | 58.0 | 54.5 | 0.04 |
| SU severity | |||
| Unhealthy alcohol use¶ | 72.3 | ||
| Any drug use, past 3 months | 41.7 | ||
| Marijuana | 30.0 | ||
| Cocaine | 9.0 | ||
| Any opioids | 7.0 | ||
| Drug Involvement Score** | |||
| Low risk | 70.4 | ||
| Moderate risk | 27.2 | ||
| High risk | 2.5 | ||
| Alcohol Involvement Score†† | |||
| Low risk | 77.4 | ||
| Moderate risk | 18.5 | ||
| High risk | 4.1 | ||
| Any mental disorder | 44.6 | 35.8 | <0.0001 |
| Anxiety | 15.4 | 12.4 | 0.008 |
| Bipolar disorder | 3.9 | 1.6 | <0.0001 |
| Depression | 37.4 | 28.6 | <0.0001 |
| Post-traumatic stress disorder | 5.9 | 3.7 | 0.0006 |
| Panic disorder | 1.7 | 1.5 | 0.61 |
| Schizophrenia | 0.82 | 1.2 | 0.28 |
↵* Data presented are for unique patients from all four cohorts of patients: (1) women eligible for mammograms (n=4804), (2) women eligible for Papanicolaou tests (n=4414), (3) men and women eligible for colorectal cancer screening (n=7008) and (4) men and women from cohorts 1, 2 and 3 who were eligible for flu vaccination (n=7017).
↵† Patient race and ethnicity were determined by clinical registration staff.
↵‡ Commonwealth Care, a Massachusetts insurance programme for poor and near-poor uninsured adults.
↵§ Charlson–Deyo Score of ≥1.
↵¶ Defined as more than four drinks with alcohol in 1 day within the past 3 months (for men; more than three drinks with alcohol for women and men over 65 years).
↵** Risk level based on WHO Alcohol Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test Specific Substance Involvement Score. A score of 0–3 is defined as low risk, 4–26 as moderate risk and ≥27 as high risk.
↵†† Risk level based on WHO Alcohol Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test Specific Substance Involvement Score. A score of 0–10 is defined as low risk, 11–26 as moderate risk and ≥27 as high risk.