How do individuals with alcohol problems use social and healthcare services in Finland? Comparison of service use patterns between two high-need patient groups.

Aims: Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are associated with high risk of comorbidities and excess use of social and healthcare services. We examined health service use (HSU) frequencies of patients with AUD in comparison to those with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Design: A random sample of individuals with AUD ( = 396) were identified based on ICD-10 codes and HSU patterns, morbidity and mortality were compared with age- and gender-matched T2DM controls ( = 792) using logistic regression analysis.