Prevalence of substance use in a Swiss psychiatric hospital: interview reports and urine screening.
BACKGROUND
Co-morbid substance misuse is common in psychiatric disorders, has potentially severe adverse consequences and may be frequently undetected.


OBJECTIVE
To measure the prevalence of substance use among patients admitted to a Swiss psychiatric hospital and to examine the potential utility of routine urine drug screening in this setting.


METHODS
266 inpatients were included. 238 patients completed the interview and 240 underwent a urine drug screening.


RESULTS
Lifetime prevalence of substance use among psychiatric patients was very high for alcohol (98%; 95% CI: 96-100), benzodiazepines (86%; 95% CI: 82-91) and cannabis (53%; 95% CI: 47-60), but also for "hard drugs" like cocaine (25% ; 95% CI: 19-30) or opiates (20%; 95% CI: 15-25). Regular current use of alcohol (32%; 95% CI: 26-38) or cannabis (17%; 95% CI: 12-22) was the most frequent. Substance use was associated with male sex, younger age, unmarried status and nicotine smoking. Urine screening confirms reports from patients on recent use, and remained positive for cannabis during hospitalisation, but not for cocaine nor for opiates.


CONCLUSIONS
Substance use is frequent among psychiatric patients. Systematic interviewing of patients about their substance use remains essential, and is usually confirmed by urine screening. Urine screening can be useful to provide specific answers about recent use.
Bonsack
Charles
C
Unité de recherche évaluative et clinique, Département Universitaire de Psychiatrie Adulte, Hôpital de Cery, 1008 Prilly, Suisse. Charles.Bonsack@chuv.ch
Camus
Didier
D
Kaufmann
Nadine
N
Aubert
Anne Catherine
AC
Besson
Jacques
J
Baumann
Pierre
P
Borgeat
François
F
Gillet
Michel
M
Eap
Chin B
CB
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000652:urine; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology