Substance use disorders and psychiatric co-morbidity in the public healthcare services of Veneto Region. State of art and epidemiological data

Abstract

Italy has two different public healthcare services taking in care patients with dual diagnosis: (1) the mental health services (Centri di Salute Mentale - CSM) and (2) and the drug abuse services (Servizi per le Dipendenze - Ser.D.). We collected and analyzed data regarding the frequency of the co-morbidities in Veneto Region during 2019. Our study shows that only the 1% of the patients in treatment in the mental health services and the 8.7% of those in drug abuse services are recognized as dual diagnosed subjects. In drug abuse services the most frequent substance use disorders (SUD) correlated with a psychiatric disease were the alcohol and opioids use disorders, while the most prevalent psychiatric disorders associated with a SUD were the personality disorders and the schizophrenia, schizotypal and delusional disorders. Our data indicate that the diagnosis of co-morbidity should be improved in both services and that integrated programs between the above services should be developed to improve the best practices.