Patterns of substance abuse among Iranian bipolar inpatients: a descriptive research on existing data

Abstract

Introduction: Substance abuse/dependency is one of the most important comorbidity in bipolar patients. Therefore, recognizing the patterns of substance use is valuable in treatment and management of patients. This study was conducted to determine patterns of substance abuse among bipolar patients who were hospitalized in an educational hospital. Methods : This was a descriptive-analytical study on existing data of 322 patients with bipolar disorder admitted in the psychiatric ward of Imam-Hossein hospital. Types of used substances studied and some variables such as gender, types of bipolarity, duration of admission, age of onset of bipolar disorder, number of hospitalization and types of prescribed treatments were compared in users and nonusers groups. Results: In this study, 84 patients (26.1%) had substance abuse. 40.5% were using opioids, 6% mood-elevators, 7.1% alcohol, and 46.4% were using multiple substances. Conclusion: It can be concluded that substance abuse frequency among patients with bipolar disorder is high. Using more than one substance was the most frequent pattern of substance abuse in these patients as well. Thus, it is necessary to consider possible comorbidity of bipolar disorder in front of patients with substance related disorder. Declaration of Interest: None. Keywords: Bipolar disorder, Substance abuse.