A research report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Medicine in the branch of Psychiatry, Johannesburg, September 2013 / Objective:
Anecdotal evidence suggests that substance use is a significant problem among psychiatric
patients admitted to Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital. The purpose of this study
was to investigate the prevalence of substance use, the type of substance used and the
socio-demographic and clinical factors associated with substance use among a group of
psychiatric inpatients.
Method:
This study was a retrospective record review of all patients admitted to the psychiatric
wards at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital between the periods of July and
December 2008.
Results:
Substance use was 4.8 (95% CI:2.7-8.4) times more likely among male subjects (p<0.001),
4.1 times (95%CI: 1.8-9.3) more likely in subjects aged 18-30 years compared to older
patients (p=0.001), 3 times (95% CI: 1.2-7.4) more likely in subjects who were single
(p=0.001), 1.9 (95% CI:1.4-2.7) times more likely in subjects who did not have children
(p<0.001), and 1.5 (95% CI:1.2-2.1) times more likely in subjects with a psychotic disorder
(p=0.004) compared to those with a mood disorder. Mood and psychotic disorders were
compared and only the past psychiatric history was found to be significantly associated with
psychotic disorders.
Conclusion:
Male gender was found to be significantly associated with substance use. Alcohol and
cannabis were the most common substances used and polysubstance use also was a
common occurrence. These findings have implications for preventative measures,
psychiatric practice and specialized care for dual diagnosis patients.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/14561 |
| Date | 23 April 2014 |
| Creators | Motala, Zaahir Ahmad E. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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