Psychiatric comorbidity in a cohort of heroin and amphetamine users in Perth Western Australia

Aims: To determine if amphetamine and opioid users attending a drug treatment service were more likely to be admitted to psychiatric services than users not receiving treatment.Method: Client records form Next Step Specialist Drug and Alcohol Services (Next Step) and the Community Based Methadone Pr...

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Main Authors: Bartu, Anne, Codde, James
Format: Journal Article
Published: Informa Healthcare 2003
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/27962
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author Bartu, Anne
Codde, James
author_facet Bartu, Anne
Codde, James
author_sort Bartu, Anne
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Aims: To determine if amphetamine and opioid users attending a drug treatment service were more likely to be admitted to psychiatric services than users not receiving treatment.Method: Client records form Next Step Specialist Drug and Alcohol Services (Next Step) and the Community Based Methadone Program (CBMP) were linked to mental health and hospital morbidity data files using probabilistic matching.Participants: The sample comprised 4280 drug users (2887 opioid users, 1393 amphetamine users). Of these, 928 received methadone at either Next Step or the CBMP, 541 attended counselling or a support group at Next Step, and 2811 did not receive treatment from Next Step or the CBMP during the study.Findings: Irrespective of treatment received, clients who had recently withdrawn from treatment were at the highest risk of psychiatric admission, experiencing seven times the hazard of admission compared with those who did not access drug treatment. Amphetamine users had at least three times the hazard of psychiactric admission compared with opioid users. Clients with a history of psychiatric admissions had twice the hazard of subsequent admission compared with those with no psychiatric history.Conclusions: Clients presenting at a drug treatment service should be screened for mental health diasgnosis at their initial assessment so that appropriate treatment strategies can be offered to these dually diagnosed clients.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-279622017-09-13T15:52:04Z Psychiatric comorbidity in a cohort of heroin and amphetamine users in Perth Western Australia Bartu, Anne Codde, James record linkage illicit drug Comorbidity Aims: To determine if amphetamine and opioid users attending a drug treatment service were more likely to be admitted to psychiatric services than users not receiving treatment.Method: Client records form Next Step Specialist Drug and Alcohol Services (Next Step) and the Community Based Methadone Program (CBMP) were linked to mental health and hospital morbidity data files using probabilistic matching.Participants: The sample comprised 4280 drug users (2887 opioid users, 1393 amphetamine users). Of these, 928 received methadone at either Next Step or the CBMP, 541 attended counselling or a support group at Next Step, and 2811 did not receive treatment from Next Step or the CBMP during the study.Findings: Irrespective of treatment received, clients who had recently withdrawn from treatment were at the highest risk of psychiatric admission, experiencing seven times the hazard of admission compared with those who did not access drug treatment. Amphetamine users had at least three times the hazard of psychiactric admission compared with opioid users. Clients with a history of psychiatric admissions had twice the hazard of subsequent admission compared with those with no psychiatric history.Conclusions: Clients presenting at a drug treatment service should be screened for mental health diasgnosis at their initial assessment so that appropriate treatment strategies can be offered to these dually diagnosed clients. 2003 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/27962 10.1080/14659890310001600124 Informa Healthcare restricted
spellingShingle record linkage
illicit drug
Comorbidity
Bartu, Anne
Codde, James
Psychiatric comorbidity in a cohort of heroin and amphetamine users in Perth Western Australia
title Psychiatric comorbidity in a cohort of heroin and amphetamine users in Perth Western Australia
title_full Psychiatric comorbidity in a cohort of heroin and amphetamine users in Perth Western Australia
title_fullStr Psychiatric comorbidity in a cohort of heroin and amphetamine users in Perth Western Australia
title_full_unstemmed Psychiatric comorbidity in a cohort of heroin and amphetamine users in Perth Western Australia
title_short Psychiatric comorbidity in a cohort of heroin and amphetamine users in Perth Western Australia
title_sort psychiatric comorbidity in a cohort of heroin and amphetamine users in perth western australia
topic record linkage
illicit drug
Comorbidity
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/27962