Substance abuse and inpatient outcomes in inflammatory bowel disease hospitalizations in the United States: a propensity matched analysis.

Abstract

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic intestinal inflammation resulting in a genetically susceptible population. The present study aimed to look at the effect of substance abuse on IBD hospitalizations in the United States. We identified primary IBD hospitalizations with substance abuse using the National Inpatient Sample database (2016-2019). A matched comparison cohort of IBD hospitalizations without substance abuse was identified by 1:N propensity score matching using the nearest-neighbor method, based on demographics, hospital-level factors, and comorbidities. We matched 4437 IBD hospitalizations with a diagnosis of substance abuse to 4528 hospitalizations without abuse. The median age was higher in the substance abuse group than no abuse (44 vs. 38 years, P<0.001). There was a higher prevalence of discharge to care facilities (2.9% vs. 2.2%) and against medical advice (4.9% vs. 1.8%) in the substance abuse group compared to the no abuse (P<0.001). The median length of hospital stays (LOS) (P=0.74) and hospitalization charge did not differ significantly (P=0.57). There was no significant difference in 30-day inpatient mortality among cohorts (adjusted hazard ratio 0.74, 95% confidence interval 0.32-1.81; P=0.54). There was a higher prevalence of psychoses (2.5% vs. 1.3%) and depression (18.8% vs. 15.7%) in IBD hospitalizations with substance abuse compared to those without abuse (P<0.001). This study reports no difference in median LOS, hospitalization charge, or mortality risk in IBD hospitalizations based on substance abuse. There is a higher prevalence of psychoses and depression in IBD patients, requiring screening for substance abuse to improve overall outcomes.