Prevalence of substance use among patients with mental illness at Mankweng Hospital, Limpopo Province

Abstract

Background: Substance use among mentally ill patients remains a major public health concern worldwide. In recent years there has been growing awareness that patients with mental illness have a higher risk of developing substance use than the general population. Substance use among these individuals often compromises the therapeutic effects of medications, leading to multiple relapses, hospital admissions, poor quality of life and an increased burden of care on limited state resources Aim: To determine the prevalence of substance use with its associated factors among patients with mental illness admitted to Mankweng Hospital, Limpopo Province. Method: A retrospective, quantitative and descriptive study has been conducted. This study is a clinical record review of patients admitted to Mankweng Hospital from June 1, 2016, to May 31, 2017. Data collection was carried out over a period of one month (October 2019) by the researcher. A structured data collection tool was used to collect the data. Data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 22). Frequencies, percentage and mean and standard deviation were used to interpret the data. For continuous and categorical variables, student t-test and Pearson Chi-square were used to test for associations between substance use and different mental disorders. A P-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Two hundred and ten psychiatric patients participated in this study. Of these, most (66%) were male and only 34% were female. The most common mental disorders were schizophrenia (25%), substance induced psychotic disorder (19%), bipolar disorder (18%), schizoaffective disorder (13%) and psychotic disorder due to another medical condition (8%). Slightly more than half (53%) (n=112) of the patients had a history of substance use. More non-Christians, than Christians, used substances (69% versus 44%, p<0.05). Seventy-five percent of males and 11% females had a history of using substances of abuse. There was no statistically significant association between age, marital status, employment status, level of education and use of the substances (p>0.05). Conclusion: There was a significantly high prevalence of substance use among the male gender. This study shows a higher prevalence of substance use among individuals diagnosed with substance induced psychotic disorders than other disorders. The findings of this study correlate with many studies, both globally and locally. The differences lie in the exact percentages; however, the high prevalence is a common factor. Patients with mental illness need to be actively screened for substance use; early intervention for co-morbid substance use will help reduce morbidity