Forty percent or more of the youths ages 20 or younger admitted to U.S. hospitals for substance dependence or related psychoses in 2000 had no documentation of receiving alcohol or drug treatment during their stay, according to an analysis of data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Some of these substance abuse admissions were transferred to other facilities which may have provided substance abuse treatment.

It is also possible that patients received brief interventions during their stay.

However, the authors assert that "even given these possibilities . . . there appears to be opportunity for improvement in treatment," especially since "[o]ther adolescent patients with chronic disorders subject to bouts of acute hospitalization, for example diabetes, receive intensive disease education and interventions during their inpatient admissions."

They note that the low rates of treatment may be due to "a lack of access to capable therapists with adolescent expertise" as "severe shortages of specialty-certified and trained providers are reality in most of the U.S."

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