Drug-related admissions to a Veterans' Administration psychiatric unit

Forty-one consecutive admissions to an inpatient psychiatric service were monitored prospectively for drug-related problems. During the four-month study, 22 (54 percent) of the admissions were determined to be drug-related; in 12 (29 percent) admissions, a drug-related problem was identified as the primary cause of hospitalization. Significant differences were found in the length of hospitalization, age, and race when the group with drug-related problems was compared with a group with non-drug-related problems.