Community Treatment for Opioid Use Disorders in Urban and Rural Veterans

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Veterans Affairs

Background:

• The opioid crisis disproportionately affects rural populations, including veterans who represent a significant portion of those residing in rural areas.
• Understanding substance use disorder (SUD) trends among veterans is crucial for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

Purpose of the Study:

• To comprehensively understand trends in SUD among veterans seeking non-VHA treatment.
• To compare SUD treatment-seeking behaviors between urban and rural veterans.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA) Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) from 2011-2016.
• Analyzed initial admission data for publicly funded non-VHA SUD treatment centers.
• Conducted multivariate trend analysis comparing urban and rural veterans for opioid use disorder treatment.

Main Results:

• Overall SUD treatment admission rates were comparable between urban and rural veterans.
• Rural veterans exhibited higher rates of admissions for injectable drug use disorder (11.2% vs 8.7%) and opiate drug use disorder (20.7% vs 18.1%).
• Both urban and rural veterans showed significant increases in admissions for opioid, heroin, and injectable drug use disorders from 2011 to 2016.

Conclusions:

• National data on community non-VHA treatment is essential for understanding veteran SUD.
• SAMHSA's TEDS data reveals a continued rise in treatment seeking for opioid use disorders among veterans.
• The findings underscore a particular increase in opioid use disorder treatment seeking among rural veterans.