The proposed study is a third follow-up of 581 male narcotic addicts admitted to the California Civil Addict program (CAP) during 1962-1964. The subjects were interviewed once in 1974/75 (DA01146), and again ten years later in 1985/86 (DA03425). The combined prospective and retrospective follow-up interviews provide a unique natural history database that can address issues specifically related to long-term narcotics addiction, patterns and consequence of use. Similar interview instruments will be used to collect self-reported measures about narcotics use, legal supervision status, criminal involvement, drug trafficking, employment, marital status, and treatment episodes over the entire addiction career. Corroborative data will be obtained from official arrest records for each interviewed subject, from a voluntarily provided urine specimen to be taken at interview, and from official death certificates for identified decedents.
Specific aims of the study are: (1) to provide an additional ten years of data to allow a detailed natural history description over an almost 40-year addiction career of a sample of narcotics addicts; (2) to assess addiction patterns over time identifying factors which influence the divergence of outcomes, in particular, relapse, cessation of use, the process of """"""""maturing-out """""""", and mortality; (3) to analyze and describe morbidity and death among this aging addict sample; (4) to evaluate the extensiveness of criminal activity and to identify specific criminal career patterns in relation to narcotics use; (5) to conduct a treatment intervention history analysis, examining successive and cumulative treatment effects and the extent to which these individual and cumulative treatment episodes have reduced narcotics use; and (6) to assess long-term costs and consequences of prolonged careers of addiction. Augmentation of the existing addict career database provides a unique opportunity for investigation into the current status of addicts now between 47 and 73 years old.
| Smyth, Breda; Hoffman, Valerie; Fan, Jing et al. (2007) Years of potential life lost among heroin addicts 33 years after treatment. Prev Med 44:369-74 |
| Hser, Yih-Ing (2007) Predicting long-term stable recovery from heroin addiction: findings from a 33-year follow-up study. J Addict Dis 26:51-60 |
| Fan, Jing; Hser, Yih-Ing; Herbeck, Diane (2006) Tooth retention, tooth loss and use of dental care among long-term narcotics abusers. Subst Abus 27:25-32 |
| Smyth, Breda; Fan, Jing; Hser, Yih-Ing (2006) Life expectancy and productivity loss among narcotics addicts thirty-three years after index treatment. J Addict Dis 25:37-47 |
| Hser, Yih-Ing; Gelberg, Lillian; Hoffman, Valerie et al. (2004) Health conditions among aging narcotics addicts: medical examination results. J Behav Med 27:607-22 |
| Hser, Y I; Hoffman, V; Grella, C E et al. (2001) A 33-year follow-up of narcotics addicts. Arch Gen Psychiatry 58:503-8 |
