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A Survey of the Prevalence of Alcoholism in Monroe County, N. Y., 1961

1967; Alcohol Research Documentation; Volume: 28; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.15288/qjsa.1967.28.316

1946-7214

Melvin Zax, Elmer A. Gardner, William T. Hart,

Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes

The records of all community agencies dealing with alcoholics in Monroe County, New York, including the City of Rochester, were surveyed in an attempt to assess the prevalence of alcoholism in that locale in 1961. The agencies included the city court, the county penitentiary, the Salvation Army, the Men's Service Center, the Alcoholism Information Center, and all treatment agencies, such as the Rochester Alcoholism Treatment Center, hospitals, clinics and nearly all of the private psychiatric practitioners in the county. The alcoholic was defined as a person who had a medical diagnosis of alcoholism, or had applied for service to an alcoholism clinic or agency, or had been arrested on a charge of public intoxication (pi). Three types of alcoholics were differentiated according to the severity of their drinking problem as inferred from arrest record and medical diagnosis. The survey found 4,739 persons of whom 3,838 clearly had an alcoholism problem bringing them into contact with the courts or treatment agencies. Of the 3,838, 1,844 had a primary diagnosis of alcoholism or brain syndrome associated with alcoholism, or more than 3 PI arrests (type I) ; 510 had a secondary diagnosis of alcoholism or 2 or 3 PI arrests; 1,484 had 1 PI arrest or contact with an alcoholism agency. A vast rate differential was found at most age groups between Whites and Nonwhites with the latter having much higher rates (per 100,000): of type I alcoholics, White men 415, women, 56; Nonwhite men 3,746, women 479. Nonwhite alcoholics tended to be younger than the White, and women alcoholics predominated in the younger age categories: of the type I group, 74% of the Nonwhite men and 80% of the Nonwhite women were under 50 years, compared with 47 and 64% of the White men and women. Of the 3,838, 32% had contact with more than one agency with the most frequent duplication among those seen in the Salvation Army, the Men's Service Center, the court and the penitentiary. An important finding was that while Nonwhites represented a large percentage of the alcoholics seen in the court ( 35%), in the Service Center ( 33%) and the penitentiary ( 38%), few were seen at the Salvation Army ( 4% of their clients), the Alcoholism Information Center ( 4%) or at the treatment agencies ( 10%). Possible explanations of many of these findings were discussed. The limitations of the survey were pointed out.