Relationships between patient characteristics and unsuccessful substance abuse detoxification

Objective: History and laboratory evaluations are common for patients enter ing substance abuse detoxification programs. We sought to identify if patie nt history and laboratory characteristics entering a detoxification program were associated with unsuccessful detoxification. Design: Retrospective cohort study of 186 patients of a residential-inpatie nt short-term medical detoxification facility. Unsuccessful detoxification was defined as leaving for urgent medical referral or against program advic e. Results: Patients were predominantly male, middle-aged, minority unemployed , and poly-substance users. Twenty-four patients (13%) did not complete the detoxification program (4 left for urgent medical referral, 20 left agains t program advice). Unsuccessful detoxification was associated with nausea a nd/or vomiting ip = 0.032), Caucasian race = 0.002), and opiates as a drug elf choice (p = 0.018). Laboratory normalities were common but none were as sociated with unsuccessful detoxification. Conclusions: For patients admitted to a medically monitored detoxification facility, few patient characteristics were associated with detoxification o utcome. Routine admission laboratories without clinical correlation may be unwarranted. (C) 2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.