Substance use disorders in an adolescent inpatient psychiatric population

This study examined the comorbidity of substance use disorders and other psychiatric disorders in adolescent populations. The study population was comprised of 100 consecutive admissions, ages 13 to 17, to an acute care adolescent psychiatric inpatient unit for substance use disorders. Patients were assessed using the Personal Experience Screening Questionnaire (PESQ) and the substance-use disorder portion of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM III-R (SCID-R). Thirty-three (33%) patients were identified as having a substance abuse or dependence diagnosis. There was no significant difference in the age between substance users and nonsubstance users. There were significantly more whites in the substance-using group. Sixty percent of all adolescents interviewed had histories of sexual or physical trauma, with trauma being significantly more common in the substance-using group. There were no significant differences in the number or type of other Axis I or Axis II diagnoses between the two groups. While substance users and nonsubstance users had no significant difference in the number of past psychiatric hospitalizations, nonsubstance users had significantly more past medical hospitalizations. These results indicate that high rates of comorbid substance abuse and psychiatric disorders exist in adolescents, and more in-depth study of comorbidity among adolescents is warranted.