Psychiatric comorbidities in adolescents with substance-use disorder

Abstract

Introduction Comorbidity between substance abuse and other psychiatric disorders has been excessively documented in adults while rarely been investigated in adolescents.Aim The study investigated the prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities among adolescent patients with substance-use disorder attending psychiatric health facilities in Suez Canal region.Patients and methods It was a cross-sectional study conducted on 120 adolescent patients aged 13–19 with substance-use disorder attending psychiatric health facilities in Suez Canal region. Data were collected using comprehensive psychiatric history, Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview, complete physical and neurological examination, and urine toxicology screen.Results Most of the study-sample participants were polysubstance abusers (89.1%). Cannabis was the commonest substance abused (90.8%). More than half of the patients (53.3%) had psychiatric comorbidity with onset before the abuse of the substance, 27.5% had psychiatric comorbidity after abusing the substance, and 19.2% had no psychiatric comorbidity. Major depressive disorder was the most prevalent disorder (40.8%) among the patients, followed by conduct disorder (38.3%).Conclusion Depression and conduct disorder are the most common psychiatric disorders among adolescent patients with substance-use disorder.