ArticleSubstance abuse : research and treatment2013
A review of existing treatments for substance abuse among the elderly and recommendations for future directions.
Article in Substance abuse : research and treatment, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 94 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Systematic Review of Opioid and Benzodiazepine Misuse in Older Adults.The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry · 2016Pooled it
- Exploring the role of gender on treatment outcomes in older adults with alcohol use disorder.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2025Trial
- Representation of Substance Use Issues in Old Age Within Norwegian Policy Frameworks.Nordisk alkohol- & narkotikatidskrift : NAT · 2026Article
- Implementation Considerations for an Occupational Therapy-Led Mental Health Care Navigation Program for Older Adult Patients.Health services insights · 2026Article
- Alcohol Misuse in Older Women: A Scoping Review of Correlates, Consequences, Treatment, and Prevention.Alcohol research : current reviews · 2026Article
- Tailoring Treatment for Substance Use Disorders in Older Adults: A Mixed-methods Study.Innovation in aging · 2025Article
- A Narrative Review of Alcohol Prevention Interventions Among Older Adults.Alcohol research : current reviews · 2025Review
- Article
- USING MACHINE LEARNING METHODS TO ASSESS THE RISK OF ALCOHOL MISUSE IN OLDER ADULTS.Research square · 2023Article
- Comparison of self-reported alcohol consumption and ethyl glucuronide in hair in a sample of 60+ year -olds treated for DSM-5 alcohol use disorder.Addiction biology · 2022Article
- Mental health care for older adults: recent advances and new directions in clinical practice and research.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2022Article
- Recurrent risk of hospitalization among older people with problematic alcohol use: a multiple failure-time analysis with a discontinuous risk model.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2022Article
- Disparities by Sex and Race and Ethnicity in Death Rates Due to Opioid Overdose Among Adults 55 Years or Older, 1999 to 2019.JAMA network open · 2022Article
- Article
- Hospital Admission Rate, Cumulative Hospitalized Days, and Time to Admission Among Older Persons With Substance Use and Psychiatric Conditions.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Substance use disorder and the baby boom generation: Does Berlin outpatient addiction care face a sustained change?Drug and alcohol review · 2021Article
- A Substance Misuse Intervention Program in Postacute Care: Who Declines Participation?The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry · 2021Article
- Evaluation and Management of Alcohol use Disorder among Older Adults.Current geriatrics reports · 2021Review
- Alcohol Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) for Girls and Women.Alcohol research : current reviews · 2020Review
- Substance use disorders among older adults: A review of randomized controlled pharmacotherapy trials.World journal of psychiatry · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWith population aging, there is widespread recognition that the healthcare system must be prepared to serve the unique needs of substance using older adults (OA) in the decades ahead. As such, there is an increasingly urgent need to identify efficient and effective substance abuse treatments (SAT) for OA. Despite this need, there remains a surprising dearth of research on treatment for OA. AIMS OF REVIEW: This review describes and evaluates studies on SAT applied to and specifically designed for OA over the last 30 years with an emphasis on methodologies used and the knowledge gained.
methodsUsing three research databases, 25 studies published in the last 30 years which investigated the impact of SAT on OA and met specific selection criteria were reviewed.
resultsA majority of the studies were methodologically limited in that they were pre-to-post or post-test only studies. Of the randomized controlled trials, many were limited by sample sizes of 15 individuals or less per group, making main effects difficult to detect. Thus, with caution, the literature suggests that among treatment seeking OA, treatment, whether age-specific or mixed-age, generally works yielding rates of abstinence comparable to general populations and younger cohorts. It also appears that with greater treatment exposure (higher dosage), regardless of level of care, OA do better. Finally, based on only two studies, age-specific treatment appears to potentiate treatment effects for OA. Like younger adults, OA appear to have a heterogeneous response to treatments, and preliminary evidence suggests a possibility of treatment matching for OA.
conclusionsExpansion of research on SAT for OA is urgently needed for maximum effectiveness and efficiency of the healthcare system serving these individuals. Future research needs to include laboratory and community based randomized controlled trials with high internal validity of previously vetted evidenced-based practices, including Motivational Interviewing, cognitive behavioral therapy, and medications such as naltrexone, to determine the best fit for OA.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.