Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 16, 2026

The Motivation for Alcohol Reward: Predictors of Progressive-Ratio Intravenous Alcohol Self-Administration in Humans
Published on: April 28, 2022
Rate and correlates of early discontinuation from Veterans Health Administration intensive outpatient substance use
Rebecca E Sistad Hall1, Hildi J Hagedorn2, Andrea Cutting3
1U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, Minneapolis VA Healthcare System, 1 Veterans Dr, Minneapolis, MN, 55417, USA; Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, 55454, USA; Center for Care Delivery & Outcomes Research, Minneapolis VA Healthcare System, 1 Veterans Dr, Minneapolis, MN, 55417, USA.
Introduction:
Early discontinuation from substance use treatment is associated with poorer treatment outcomes. This study aims to examine the rate of discontinuation from Veterans Health Administration (VHA) intensive outpatient treatment programs (IOP) for substance use disorders (SUD) and examine factors associated with discontinuation among veterans enrolled in VHA SUD IOP.
Methods:
This is a retrospective cohort study of electronic medical record data, sourced from the VHA Corporate Data Warehouse. The total sample was 546 veterans from five Midwest VHA hospitals with SUD and at least one visit in a SUD IOP clinic during fiscal years 2022 and 2023. The majority of veterans were White (78.75%) males (92.12%) and had a median age of 48.80 years. The most prevalent non-tobacco SUD diagnoses were alcohol use disorder (AUD; 92.86%), cannabis use disorder (29.49%), and stimulant use disorder (25.82%). Veterans were categorized as having discontinued SUD IOP early if they completed less than one full week of SUD IOP.
Results:
Across the five sites, the rate of SUD IOP early discontinuation was 12%. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that veterans who were diagnosed with an AUD were significantly less likely to discontinue SUD IOP within the first week, whereas older veterans were significantly more likely to discontinue.
Conclusions:
One in 8 veterans will discontinue SUD IOP within the first week. The lower rate of SUD IOP discontinuation observed in this study, compared to other literature, suggests that certain program or population factors may be enhancing retention. Risk factors for early discontinuation from SUD IOP appear to be older age and not having an AUD diagnosis. Several factors are hypothesized to contribute to the lower rate of early discontinuation observed in this cohort. Future research aimed at establishing a deeper understanding of why veterans discontinue SUD IOP could help better clarify why rates are relatively low.
Related Concept Videos
Substance Use Disorders Affecting Sleep
Understanding the concepts of physical dependence,...
Drug Dependence
Therapeutic Drug Monitoring: Affecting Factors
Drug Abuse and Addiction: Pharmacological Phenomena
Drug Accumulation During Multiple Dosing: Intermittent IV Infusions
Kinetics of Drug Elimination
Drug clearance depends on the rate of drug elimination and its plasma concentration. Another important parameter is the half-life of a drug, which is the time required for its concentration to decrease by half. In most cases, drug clearance follows first-order...
