The impact of lifetime substance use on psychiatric comorbidities and treatment seeking in patients with alcohol use disorders

Abstract

It is well-recognized that individuals with alcohol-related disorders often use other psychoactive substances; however, systematic research on this topic remains limited. The primary objective was to determine the prevalence of lifetime psychoactive substance use and describe the dependence between concurrent use of alcohol and other drugs on psychiatric comorbidities in the analyzed group. The secondary aim was to try to assess the frequency of seeking psychiatric treatment between individuals declaring the concurrent use of alcohol with other drugs and those declaring the use only alcohol. The study was designed as a retrospective cross-sectional analysis based on discharge reports from psychiatric patients admitted to the Regional Psychiatric Hospital in Olsztyn, Poland. 1015 cases were included and analyzed in the study. Data for the study were collected in specially designed monitoring cards from discharge reports including data from psychiatric examinations, especially anamnesis. The percentage of people declaring lifetime use of psychoactive substances was 17.6%. 2.8% of them were diagnosed with substance-related disorders (F11–19 according to ICD-10). The most frequently declared use was cannabis, followed by amphetamine-type substances, benzodiazepines and new psychoactive substances. In the group of people declaring the lifetime use of psychoactive substances, 13.4% were additionally diagnosed with mental disorders. It was, consequently, 8% in the group of people denying the lifetime use of psychoactive substances. People declaring lifetime use of psychoactive substances were significantly more likely to seek psychiatric treatment, i.e. they were admitted significantly more often on an emergency admission than on an elective one, these people were significantly more likely to have undergone psychiatric treatment in the past and were more often hospitalized in our center during the research period. People who concurrently use alcohol with other drugs significantly more often have psychiatric comorbidity than people who deny the use of other drugs. That group also visibly more often seeks psychiatric treatment than patients who deny taking psychoactive substances.