Experts Discuss ‘Alarming’ Disparities in AUD Treatment Access

Compared with men, women are less likely to obtain treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD), more likely to present with comorbid conditions, and more likely to remain in treatment for shorter durations. These disparities are even starker for Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Latina American women.

“[B]y some estimates, both Black and Latina women have approximately one-quarter the odds of obtaining alcohol [treatment] services as White women, yet population-level efforts to address these disparities are lacking,” said Deidra Roach, M.D., medical project officer for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Roach manages research portfolios addressing the treatment of HIV/AIDS and harmful drinking, AUD and co-occurring mental and other medical disorders, harmful drinking among women, and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

Roach will chair a session at APA’s 2023 Annual Meeting titled “Overcoming Disparities in Alcohol Treatment Among BIPOC Women.” She and her fellow speakers will address the challenges in accessing treatment, as well as opportunities to expand treatment access for Black, Hispanic American, and American Indian/Alaska Native women.

“Historically, the substance use literature has primarily focused on treatment trends and outcomes among men, with little attention to gender differences, and even less attention to women with SUD from racial and ethnic minoritized backgrounds,” explained Ayana Jordan, M.D., Ph.D., one of the session presenters. Jordan is the Barbara Wilson Associate Professor of Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry and an associate professor in the Department of Population Health at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

“Research has also found that women progress more rapidly in their severity and quantity of use and are less likely to enter treatment over their lifetimes compared with men,” Jordan said. “When women do decide to enter treatment, it is likely to be for a mental health difficulty and not substance use.”

The speakers will review findings from the latest research on the prevalence of and trends in problem drinking among American Indian/Alaska Native, Black, and Latina American women. They will also discuss some of the most salient risk factors for problem drinking among these groups. Further, the speakers will highlight promising treatment options.

“Stigma poses a very serious barrier to treatment for alcohol use disorder in BIPOC women, who regularly contend with discrimination in health care and other sectors of society based on intersecting identities of gender, race, and socioeconomic status,” Roach said. “Women often avoid reporting their problems with substance use to health care providers because they fear being labeled and poorly treated by providers and/or reported to legal authorities with the ability to remove their children from the home or to otherwise punish them and their families.” ■