[Clinical problems of alcoholics with a history of methamphetamine abuse]

The authors studied the clinical problems of alcoholics with a history of methamphetamine abuse as compared with alcoholics with no history. The samples were in- and out-patients of Kanagawa Prefectural Center of Psychiatry, Serigaya Hospital, from January to December 1992. This study covered 26 alcoholics who had abused methamphetamine from 1 to 40 years before, with an average age at admission was 43.5 years. This compared with a 50.4 year average for 89 alcoholics who had no history of methamphetamine abuse. Hepatitis C antibodies (HCVAb) were significantly more commonly observed in ex-methamphetamine abusers than in non-abusers (73.1% vs. 18.0%). Hepatitis B antigens (HBsAg) were no more common among abusers than non-abusers (0% vs. 2.2%). Blood transfusion history tended to be greater in ex-methamphetamine abusers than non-abusers (38.5% vs. 29.2%) but the difference did not reach conventional levels of statistical significance. Ex-abusers often wore tattoos (23.1%) whereas none of the non-abusers did, a significant difference. Significantly more ex-methamphetamine abusers were diagnosed as suffering from alcoholic hallucinosis than non-abusers (42.3% vs. 7.9%). As more ex-methamphetamine abusers than non-abusers were living alone (61.5% vs. 31.5%), were on welfare (61.5% vs. 23.8%), and living in skid-row areas (15.4% vs. 5.6%), the authors concluded that their living conditions were unstable.