Prevalence of Substance Use Disorders among Patients of Accident and Emergency Department of a University Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Substance abuse and dependence are frequently encountered in emergency units of our hospitals, and it accounts for major health care problems frequently leading to accident and emergency department admission, though it is often missed or not diagnosed. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of drug abuse and dependence among patients attending Accident and Emergency Hospitals and to determine the sociodemographic characteristics of these patients with substance use disorders. A total of 200 consented participants attending the accident and emergency unit of the hospital were recruited into the study consecutively over a 2-week period. They were screened for psychoactive substance use disorders (PSUD) with Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) and urine drug test (UDT) in the first phase and the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) Instrument was used to make definitive diagnosis in the second stage. The result revealed that the prevalence of substance use disorders was 19.0% (13.0% for substance abuse and 6.0% for substance dependence). The study found that being male (p <0.001), widowed (p ≤0.012), and Christian (p ≤0.006) were associated with substance use disorders among patients presenting at accident and emergency units. The authors concluded that the prevalence of substance use disorders recorded in this study is higher compared to previous study conducted by Mustafa et al in Egypt with 11.5%.  The reason could be due to inclusion of biochemical test (urine drug test) in our screening, whereas only self-report questionnaires were used in their study.