Similarities in outcomes for men and women after drug misuse treatment: results from the National Treatment Outcome Research Study (NTORS).

The National Treatment Outcome Research Study (NTORS) is a prospective, multi-site treatment outcome study of drug misusers in the UK. This paper reports the characteristics and problems of male and female clients at intake to treatment, and changes in substance use, health problems, and criminal behaviour at follow-up. The sample comprised 753 subjects (552 men and 201 women) followed-up 1 year after starting treatment in 54 programmes chosen to be representative of the main national treatment modalities. Men and women presented to treatment with different problems and characteristics. Women reported more frequent cocaine use, greater health problems, and were more likely to have a drug-using partner and be responsible for children. Despite different profiles of problems, men and women both made significant reductions in their problem behaviours following treatment. At 1-year follow-up, men and women reported reductions in drug use, health problems and criminal behaviour. However, women did not reduce their alcohol consumption significantly, and improvements in crime were less pronounced than for men. After controlling for pretreatment differences, gender was not predictive of any of the outcome measures reported.