SEATTLE, April 13 (UPI) -- Veterans in Washington state who used the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs were more likely to be male, younger, less educated, divorced and smokers.
A study published in the journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development compared characteristics and causes of death in 62,080 Washington veterans who did and did not use VA healthcare services five years before death.
The researchers also found that both female and male veterans who used VA healthcare were more likely to die from alcohol-and/or-drug-related causes.
VA medical centers provide a range of addiction treatment services not typically offered in other healthcare systems, which may partly explain the higher likelihood of death due to substance use disorders, the study said.
The findings suggest that the VA patient population is more severely affected by substance use disorders than veterans who do not use VA healthcare services.
