Associations between polysubstance use and psychiatric comorbidities

IntroductionPolydrug use studies mention demographic and socioeconomic factors that may influence this problem. One of them is the existence of psychiatric comorbidity; Rentrop’s study (Rentrop et al., 2014) finds in a sample of 50 patients that all patients had at least one axis I disorder, 90% at least one axis II disorder, which may compromise the outcome of detoxification and dehabituation treatments (Rentrop et al., 2014). Another study found that 44.9% of patients admitted to a psychiatric unit are polydrug users (Karam et al., 2002).ObjectivesTo study the possible association of polydrug use with psychiatric comorbidity in patients admitted to a general hospital and presenting drug use.MethodsWe made a descriptive retrospective study through the use of electronic medical records. The drug use history was obtained for all patients admitted to the inpatient service of a general hospital during a 3-year period.ResultsMore cases of poly-consumption together with psychiatric comorbidity are found than expected in the χ² Test, with significant results (χ² = 27.2; p