Recent illicit drug use among psychiatric patients in Brazil: a national representative study

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To estimate factors associated to illicit drug use among patients with mental illnessin Brazil according to gender.METHODS: A cross-sectional representative sample of psychiatric patients (2,475 individuals)was randomly selected from 11 hospitals and 15 public mental health outpatient clinics. Dataon self-reported illicit drug use and sociodemographic, clinical and behavioral characteristicswere obtained from face-to-face interviews. Logistic regression was used to estimate associationswith recent illicit drug use.RESULTS: The prevalence of any recent illicit drug use was 11.4%. Men had higher prevalencethan women for all substances (17.5% and 5.6%, respectively). Lower education, history ofphysical violence, and history of homelessness were associated with drug use among men only;not professing a religion was associated with drug use in women only. For both men and women,younger age, current hospitalization, alcohol and tobacco use, history of incarceration, youngerage at sexual debut, and more than one sexual partner were statistically associated with illicitdrug use.CONCLUSIONS: Recent illicit drug use among psychiatric patients is higher than amongthe general Brazilian population and it is associated with multiple factors including markers ofpsychiatric severity. Our data indicate the need for the development of gender-based drug-useinterventions among psychiatric patients in Brazil. Integration of substance use treatmentstrategies with mental health treatment should be a priority