Prevalence of Alcohol and Substance Use Disorder among Psychiatric Inpatients

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of alcohol and substance use disorders in psychiatric inpatient clinics and determine the frequencies of alcohol and substance use disorder among psychiatric disease groups and find out the differences in between these groups. Material and Methods: Thus all patients admitted to inpatients psychiatric clinics of in one year period were approached for inclusion into this study, and 155 patients with a hospitalization period longer than one day who provided informed consent were included in the study. All patients included in the study were interviewed with a semi structured interview scale to get information regarding the presence of alcohol, nicotine and other substance use disorder. Results: The results of this study confirmed high rates of alcohol, nicotine and substance use disorder comorbidity in psychiatric inpatients. The results of one year prospective follow up study revealed that 57.4% of patients had nicotine dependence, 21.9% alcohol dependence and misuse and 9% had sedative misuse or dependence. The rate of substance use disorder was high among all psychiatric disorder subgroups. Considering all substances including nicotine together, 55% of patients with psychotic disorder had at least one substance use disorder whereas these figures were 61% and 81% for affective disorders and anxiety disorders respectively. Conclusion: Professionals dealing with treatment of psychiatric disorders should always be aware of substance use disorder comorbidity, and start treatment immediately without causing any delay in treatment. Obviously we need future large prospective studies to get more insight into these dual-diagnose disorders. [Cukurova Med J 2012; 37(1.000): 37-48]