Pattern of psychiatric morbidity and alcohol dependence in patients with alcoholic liver disease.
Fifty-six male patients with alcoholic liver disease were evaluated for the presence and severity of alcohol dependence and psychiatric illness using a severity of alcohol dependence questionnaire and research diagnostic criteria, respectively. Forty-three (76.7%) patients were found to be dependent; 26 (46.4%) moderately, and 17 (30.3%) severely. Patients with alcoholic hepatitis were significantly (P less than 0.05) more often found to be dependent than patients with alcoholic cirrhosis. Psychiatric morbidity was observed in 42 (75%) of the patients with alcoholic liver disease and 15 (26.7%) of the nonalcoholic cirrhotics. The difference was highly significant (P less than 0.01). The commonest disorders in patients with alcoholic liver disease were neuroses (33.0%), followed by affective disorders (26.8%). It was, however, not possible to ascertain whether psychiatric disorders antedated alcoholism or were secondary to it. Detection of moderate to severe dependence on alcohol and psychiatric morbidity in about three-fourths of the patients with alcoholic liver disease warrants an increased awareness and a multidisciplinary approach for the management of these patients.
Sarin
S K
SK
Department of Gastroenterology, G.B. Pant Hospital, New Delhi, India.
Sachdev
G
G
Jiloha
R C
RC
Bhatt
A
A
Munjal
G C
GC
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008108:Liver Diseases, Alcoholic / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors