Comorbidity of severe psychiatric disorders and substance use disorders in the service of a german psychiatric hospital

Abstract

The prevalence of substance use is bi-directionally related to severe psychiatric disorders and has an impact on psychiatric hospital emergency departments. Objective. To describe the prevalence of substance use and its relationship to mental disorders in a German psychiatric hospital. Method. We reviewed 1593 clinical records in adults aged 18-69 years admitted to the psychiatric service during 2000-2014. Different variables were collected: sociodemographic, clinical, ICD-10 diagnosis and substance use. The use of various statistics was used depending on the nature of the variables (Chi-square, Pearson's contingency coefficient, Phi coefficient, Cramer's V and Odds Ratio), selecting non-parametric tests when the principle of normality in the data was not met (Kruskal-Wallis' H and Mann-Whitney's U). Results. One third of the population presented substance use disorders, being common of severity in the care of psychiatric emergency services, where men present higher prevalence of alcohol and 1-2 substances between 49-58 years of age. Conclusions. Men present 2,803 times more risk of alcohol consumption than women and this suggests a significant relationship between severity of consumption and serious mental disorder.