[Prevalence of psychiatric disorders by alcohol and other substances abuse in men and women hospitalized in an internal medicine service of a hospital in Santiago de Chile].
BACKGROUND
Studies done in Chile and abroad report a high frequency of substance abuse among patients hospitalized in general medical services.


OBJECTIVE
To report the frequency of substance abuse in a sample of patients hospitalized in a public hospital of Santiago.


METHODS
A structured psychiatric interview for the Third Revised Version of The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-III-R) was applied to 203 males, aged 58.5 years and 203 females, aged 52.9 years, hospitalized in an internal medicine Service of a public hospital. All subjects had a low educational and income level.


RESULTS
The discharge diagnoses of studied patients were digestive diseases in 32%, circulatory diseases in 19%, cancer, diabetes mellitus and genitourinary diseases in 11% respectively and mental or behavioral diseases in 5%. Thirty eight percent of males and 6% of females qualified for alcohol dependency or abuse in some moment of their lives. The figures for benzodiazepine dependency were 1% among males and 6% among females. The figures for cannabis, cocaine or stimulant abuse were 1.5% for males and 1% for females. Other conditions of the axis 1 of DSM-IIIR were diagnosed in 47% of males and 65% of females with substance abuse.


CONCLUSIONS
Substance abuse underlies medical conditions in a high proportion of patients admitted to medical services in general hospitals.
Departamento de Psiquiatría y Salud Mental Sur, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago de Chile. gmo_hernandezg@hotmail.com
Guillermo
G
Hernández
Olga
O
Montino
Mónica
M
Kimelman
Gricel
G
Orellana
Carlos
C
Núñez
Carolina
C
Ibáñez
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D002677:Chile / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*