title: Relationships between patient characteristics and unsuccessful substance abuse detoxification.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  History and laboratory evaluations are common for patients entering substance abuse detoxification programs. We sought to identify if patient history and laboratory characteristics entering a detoxification program were associated with unsuccessful detoxification.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective cohort study of 186 patients of a residential-inpatient short-term medical detoxification facility. Unsuccessful detoxification was defined as leaving for urgent medical referral or against program advice.
  
  
  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 against program advice). Unsuccessful detoxification was associated with nausea and/or vomiting (p = 0.032), Caucasian race (p = 0.002), and opiates as a drug of choice (p = 0.018). Laboratory abnormalities were common but none were associated with unsuccessful detoxification.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  For patients admitted to a medically monitored detoxification facility, few patient characteristics were associated with detoxification outcome. Routine admission laboratories without clinical correlation may be unwarranted.
authors.affiliation: Section of General Internal Medicine, VA Pittsburgh Health Care System, Center for Research on Health Care, University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Gordon
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Wentz
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Gibbon
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Mason
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Freyder
authors.forename: T P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: O'Toole
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008658:Inactivation, Metabolic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance; D012114:Residential Treatment; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016320:Substance Abuse Treatment Centers; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D017211:Treatment Failure
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers