Alcohol Use in Patients with Opioid Use Disorder Linked to and Undergoing Buprenorphine Treatment via a Peer-Navigator Program Based in an Urban Emergency Department

Outcomes for those patients who present to the emergency department with a drug overdose with alcohol involvement have a higher odds of a fatal outcome compared with patients with an overdose without alcohol involvement (Bogdanowicz et al., 2015; Castle et al., 2016). The impact of opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment on alcohol use is controversial and patients with a history of alcohol use disorder (AUD) are more likely to have worse OUD treatment outcomes (Ciccocioppo et al., 2007; Soyka, 2015; Witkiewitz & Vowles, 2018; Xu et al., 2021). In this study, we aimed to determine prevalence of alcohol use in a cohort of patients undergoing buprenorphine treatment in an urban population and analyze reported alcohol use at different time points. We conducted aretrospective review (approved by Rutgers Institutional Review Board) of survey data collected from patients with OUD actively enrolled in a peer navigator program for buprenorphine treatment. Data relating to alcohol use behaviors and AUD diagnosis in the last 30 days were collected in person by peer navigators at the time of patient enrollment into treatment and again electronically at 6 months. The patients were asked the same questions regarding their alcohol use at both time points. Questions assessed recent diagnosis of an AUD, use of alcohol to intoxication (5+ drinks in one sitting) and use of alcohol with drugs. We conducted a linked survey analysis to determine if there were significant changes in patient behavior between time frames. We reported results using descriptive statistics and used the McNemar test for linked categorical data and the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test for continuous data as applicable. P-values were considered significant at the 0.05 level.