For the first study, Jennifer Mertens and a research team at Kaiser Permanente and researchers at the University of California at San Francisco analyzed 12-month data from 747 people who entered the Kaiser Permanente addiction-treatment program.

The data was compared with a control group of 3,690 patients who were members of the HMO, but not diagnosed with an addiction.

The researchers found that those undergoing addiction treatment were significantly more likely to have injuries, depression, and anxiety disorders. Furthermore, addicted individuals were more likely to require treatment for lower back pain, headache, and arthritis.

The second study, conducted by researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, used data from the Northwestern Juvenile Project. The researchers also interviewed 1,829 youth ages 10 to 18 who were in the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center.

The study found that more than 10 percent of the boys and almost 14 percent of the girls had an addiction and a major mental disorder, such as psychosis, manic episode, or major depressive episode.

"The findings from these studies highlight the need for medical screening and treatment of comorbid conditions," said NIDA Director Dr. Nora D. Volkow. "These studies provide more evidence that substance abuse does not occur in a vacuum, but rather often exists together with a number of conditions that have serious health consequences and may influence the success of substance-abuse interventions provided alone. Physicians and other healthcare providers need to keep in mind that a diagnosis of substance abuse should be an important warning signal to look for co-existing medical or psychiatric conditions."

Both studies were funded in part by NIDA, National Institutes of Health. The first study is published in the November 2003 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, while the second study is highlighted in the November 2003 Archives of General Psychiatry.

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