==== Front
Innov Aging
Innov Aging
innovateage
Innovation in Aging
2399-5300 Oxford University Press US 

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.2691
igaa057.2691
Abstracts
Session 7010 (Symposium)
AcademicSubjects/SOC02600
Substance Use Disorder–Related Hospitalizations and ED Use in Those Returning to Community From Prison in Later Life
Barry Lisa 1 Steffens David 2 Covinsky Kenneth 3 Conwell Yeates 4 Byers Amy 5 1 
UConn Center on Aging, Farmington, Connecticut, United States
2 
University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, Connecticut, United States
3 
University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States
4 
University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, United States
5 
University of California, San Francisco / San Francisco VA Health Care System, San Francisco, California, United States
2020 
16 12 2020 
16 12 2020 
4 Suppl 1 Program Abstracts from The GSA 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting “Turning 75: Why Age Matters”747 748
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.2020This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Abstract
High rates of substance use disorders (SUDs) in persons age 50 and older are concerning. Those reentering the community in later life after incarceration are especially at risk. We determined if later-life prison release increases risk of SUD-related hospitalizations and ED visits in a national sample of veterans (N=7,671) released from prison between 2012 to 2014 and matched never-incarcerated controls (N=7,671). Later-life prison release was associated with increased risk of any SUD-related hospitalization/ED visit (2907.1 vs. 465.0 per 100,000/year; adjusted HR=2.67; 95% CI, 2.11-3.36) and 3-fold risk of hospitalizations/ED visits due to alcohol use disorder (1955.4.1 vs. 282.6 per 100,000/year; adjusted HR=3.04; 95% CI, 2.24-4.13) and drug use disorder (1586.1 vs. 252.0 per 100,000/year; adjusted HR=3.09; 95% CI, 2.23-4.30). Those reentering the community in later life after prison are at higher risk of experiencing SUD-related hospitalizations or ED visits. Prevention and intervention efforts targeting later-life prison-to-community care transitions are needed. Part of a symposium sponsored by the Aging, Alcohol and Addictions Interest Group.