Follow-up care for alcohol misuse among OEF/OIF veterans with and without alcohol use disorders and posttraumatic stress disorder

Little is known about follow-up care for alcohol misuse in the Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system among Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) veterans with and without alcohol use disorders (AUD) and/or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Using data from 4725 OEF/OIF VA outpatients with alcohol screening (2006–2010), we compared the prevalence of follow-up for alcohol misuse—brief intervention (BI) or referral to treatment—among patients with and without AUD and/or PTSD. Among 933 (19.7%) patients with alcohol misuse (AUDIT-C ≥ 5), 77.0% had AUD and/or PTSD. Rates of BI or referral for alcohol misuse were higher among patients with AUD (76.9%) and both AUD and PTSD (70.1%) compared to those with PTSD only (53.1%) and neither AUD nor PTSD (52.3%). Among OEF/OIF VA outpatients with alcohol misuse, those with AUD had higher rates of follow-up for alcohol misuse than those without, but PTSD was not associated with differential follow-up.