Impact of COVID-19 on stimulant use disorder treatment: A national cohort study in the Veterans Health Administration.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Rates of stimulant overdose have increased dramatically, which may have been exacerbated by treatment disruptions during the pandemic, but no recent studies have examined use of stimulant use disorder (StUD) treatment.

Methods

In this retrospective cohort study (March 2018 to February 2022) of national Veterans Health Administration patients, we use an interrupted time-series analysis to examine the impact of COVID-19 (starting in March 2020) on treatment use for StUD.

Results

The number of patients receiving StUD care was increasing pre-COVID (22,640-23,020, February 2018-February 2020) but dropped post-pandemic to 18,578 in February 2022. The monthly number of patients receiving StUD care increased by 34.6 patients per month (95% CI, 1.1-68.0; P=0.04) befo

SUBMITTER: Coughlin LN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11232931 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature