Drug-dependent women: demographic and clinical characteristics in a Brazilian sample

This study compared baseline demographics, clinical characteristics and patterns of substance use of 99 substance misusing women seeking treatment in a Brazilian hospital who had been diagnosed with drug dependence (alcohol dependence, if present, was not the most important) against 162 women diagnosed with alcohol dependence. Most of the drug-dependent women in this study were dependent on cocaine (73.7%). It was found that drug-dependent women, at entry, were younger, with a higher educational level, single or lived alone, and had a job outside home more often than alcoholics; they also had less alcohol-use related problems in the family and more relatives with problems with other drugs. They sought treatment mainly by self-initiative and reported more past suicide attempts than their alcoholic counterparts. In addition, they began drug use at the same age but increased drug use, as well as seeking treatment, significantly earlier. Alcoholics had more psychiatric comorbidity. The findings point out heterogeneity among chemically-dependent Brazilian women.