Medications Initiated in 30 Percent of Hospitalizations for Alcohol Use Disorder Among Veterans

WEDNESDAY, May 13, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- Within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), 30 percent of hospitalizations for alcohol use disorder (AUD) result in medications for AUD (MAUD) initiation as an inpatient or within seven days of discharge, according to a study published online May 5 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.Timothy S. Anderson, M.D., from the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study involving veterans hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of AUD in 2022 or 2023. Data were included for 29,041 hospitalizations for AUD of veterans without MAUD at baseline in 142 hospitals.The researchers found that MAUD was initiated as an inpatient or within seven days in 8,932 hospitalizations (30.8 percent). MAUDs were naltrexone, acamprosate, and injectable naltrexone (57.9, 16.5, and 13.9 percent, respectively). Overall, 69.6 percent of the MAUD initiations were during an inpatient stay and the remainder were within seven days. Almost all (97.7 percent) of the 6,221 inpatient initiations had a prescription for MAUD within 30 days after discharge. In adjusted analyses, MAUD initiation was more likely for hospitalizations with a specialty addiction consultation and for those receiving psychiatry versus medicine service. MAUD initiation was less likely among those aged 65 years or older, men, American Indian or Alaska Native versus White veterans, frail veterans, those diagnosed with opioid use disorder, and those in the intensive care unit. The median hospital-level MAUD initiation rate was 29.9 percent."These findings indicate a need for further investigation into factors contributing to hospital-level variation, which may inform health system and quality improvement efforts to equitably increase MAUD initiation," the authors write.Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required).Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

Medications Initiated in 30 Percent of Hospitalizations for Alcohol Use Disorder Among Veterans

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