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Cited by 2Substance Abuse Treatment and OutcomesOpioid Use Disorder TreatmentAlcohol Consumption and Health Effects

Was receipt of any specialty alcohol treatment during the pandemic effective at reducing drinking for patients with or at risk of AUD?

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Kline-Simon, Andrea H., Palzes, Vanessa A., Chi, Felicia W., Satre, Derek D., Weisner, Constance, Sterling, Stacy A.·2025·Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment
DOI 10.1016/j.josat.2024.209531PMC PMC11624079
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Abstract

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way healthcare providers delivered most health services, including treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD). Specialty alcohol treatment remained available through the pandemic, and within some systems treatment use increased likely due to telehealth availability. However, the field knows little about the relationship between the pandemic's expanded access to specialty alcohol treatment and alcohol use outcomes.Methods The sample included 14,712 patients from Kaiser Permanente Northern California who screened positive for unhealthy alcohol use in primary care and had an AUD diagnosis or risked developing an AUD by reporting 5 or more heavy drinking days in a 3-month period between 1/1/2019 and 2/29/2020 (pre-pandemic). The study examined the receipt of any specialty alcohol treatment (including at least one outpatient, inpatient, or telehealth specialty treatment encounter, or pharmacotherapy prescription) from 3/1/2020 (pandemic start) to either the first completed follow-up alcohol screening or 6/20/2022 (study period end). The outcomes of alcohol use included changes in heavy drinking days, drinks per week, drinking days per week, and drinks per drinking day between the pre- and post-pandemic periods.Results On average patients significantly decreased alcohol use across all four alcohol use measures examined, regardless of whether they received treatment. However, those who received any treatment compared to those who did not had greater reductions in alcohol use, with an additional decrease of -3.55 heavy drinking days (95 % CI = -5.93, -1.17), -3.80 drinks per week (95 % CI = -5.18, -2.42), -0.72 drinks per drinking day (95 % CI = -1.14, -0.30), and - 1.01 drinking days per week (95 % CI = -1.30, -0.72). Treatment effects were greatest among patients who exceeded both daily and weekly limits pre-pandemic, with an additional decrease of -10.75 heavy drinking days (95 % CI = -15.28, -6.21), -12.83 drinks per week (95 % CI = -16.31, -9.35), -1.67 drinks per drinking day (95 % CI = -2.19, -1.14), and -2.02 drinking days per week (95 % CI = -2.41, -1.63).Conclusions On average, patients decreased alcohol use during the onset of the pandemic, however, those who had any specialty alcohol treatment had significantly greater decreases, suggesting that the hybrid in-person and telehealth treatment approach was effective during the pandemic.

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  • Psychosocial and pharmacological treatments can be effective in reducing substance use and improving physical and mental health.

    “as psychosocial and pharmacological treatments can be effective in reducing substance use and improving physical and mental health [5,6,7,8,9,10].”

    From Treatment Use Among U.S. Adults with a Substance Use Disorder: Associations with Symptom Severity, Problem Self-Perception, Comorbid Mental Illness, and Mental Health Treatment (2025) · cites this paper as [6]

    The Results and Discussion (page not provided) report that patients receiving specialty alcohol treatment had greater reductions in drinking than those receiving no treatment. The paper includes AUD pharmacotherapy among the treatments received, but does not establish the effectiveness of psychosocial and pharmacological treatments separately or report improvements in physical or mental health. Its findings concern alcohol use, not substance use generally. (LLM, conf=0.85)

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. (2023). Helping patients who drink too much: A clinician’s guide, updated 2005 edition. https://my.ireta.org/sites/ireta.org/files/NIAAA_Clinicians_Guide_Helping_Patients.pdf Accessed January 22, 2024

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Authors
Kline-Simon, A. H., Palzes, V. A., Chi, F. W., Satre, D. D., Weisner, C., & Sterling, S. A.
Affiliations
  • Kaiser Permanente (US)
  • University of California, San Francisco (US)
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2025-01
Volume
168
Pages
209531
ISSN
2949-8759 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.josat.2024.209531
PMC
PMC11624079
OpenAlex
W4403165943
Cited by
2
References
25
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 1
FWCI
0.61
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (75N94021C00003, K24AA025703)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Opioid Use Disorder Treatment
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Alcohol Consumption and Health Effects
Keywords
alcoholism, COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine, heavy drinking, alcohol use outcomes, treatment effectiveness, alcohol pharmacotherapy, primary care screening, Kaiser Permanente, binge drinking, pre- and post-pandemic comparison, alcohol use disorder risk
MeSH terms
COVID-19, Adult, Alcohol Drinking, Alcoholism, California, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Primary Health Care, Telemedicine

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