Substance abuse in patients admitted voluntarily and involuntarily to acute psychiatric wards: a national cross-sectional study

Authors

  • Anne Opsal
  • Øistein Kristensen
  • Torleif Ruud
  • Tor K. Larsen
  • Rolf W. Gråwe
  • Thomas Clausen

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5324/nje.v21i1.1430

Abstract

Background: Substance abuse and mental disorder comorbidity is high among patients admitted to acute psychiatric wards. The aim of the study was to identify this co-occurrence as a reason for involuntary admission and if specific substance use-related diagnoses were associated with such admissions.

Methods: The study was a part of a multicentre, cross-sectional national study carried out during 2005-2006 within a research network of acute mental health services. Seventy-five percent of Norwegian hospitals providing acute in-patient treatment participated. Substance use was measured using the Clinician Rating Scale and the ICD-10 diagnoses F10-19. Diagnostic assessments were performed by the clinicians during hospital stay.

Results: Overall, 33.2% (n=1,187) of the total patient population (3,506) were abusing alcohol or drugs prior to admission according to the Clinician Rating Scale. No difference in the overall prevalence of substance abuserelated diagnoses between the two groups was found. Overall, 310 (26%) of the admissions, 216 voluntarily and 94 involuntarily admitted patients received a double diagnosis. Frequent comorbid combinations among voluntarily admitted patients were; a combination of alcohol and either mood disorder (40%) or multiple mental disorders (29%). Among involuntarily admitted patients, a combination of poly drug use and schizophrenia was most frequent (47%). Substance abusing patients diagnosed with mental and behavioral disorders due to the use of psychoactive stimulant substances had a significantly higher risk of involuntary hospitalization (OR 2.3).

Conclusion: Nearly one third of substance abusing patients are involuntarily admitted to mental hospitals, in particular stimulant drug use was associated with involuntarily admissions.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Downloads

Published

2011-12-22

How to Cite

Opsal, A., Kristensen, Øistein, Ruud, T., Larsen, T. K., Gråwe, R. W., & Clausen, T. (2011). Substance abuse in patients admitted voluntarily and involuntarily to acute psychiatric wards: a national cross-sectional study. Norsk Epidemiologi, 21(1). https://doi.org/10.5324/nje.v21i1.1430

Issue

Vol. 21 No. 1 (2011): Rusmiddelepidemiologi / Alcohol and drug use epidemiology"

Section

Articles

License

Norsk Epidemiologi licenses all content of the journal under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence. This means, among other things, that anyone is free to copy and distribute the content, as long as they give proper credit to the author(s) and the journal. For further information, see Creative Commons website for human readable or lawyer readable versions.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).