Prevalence of substance abuse among patients hospitalized in an internal medicine service

Background: Studies done in Chile and abroad report a high frequency of substance abuse among patients hospitalized in general medical services. Aim. To report the frequency of substance abuse in a sample of patients hospitalized in a public hospital of Santiago. Material and methods: A structured psychiatric interview for the Third Revised Version of The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-III-R) was applied to 203 males, aged 58.5 years and 203 females, aged 52,9 years, hospitalized in an internal medicine Service of a public hospital. All subjects bad a low educational and income level. Results: The discharge diagnoses of studied patients were digestive diseases in 32016, circulatory diseases in 19%, cancer, diabetes mellitus and genitourinary diseases in 11% respectively and mental or behavioral diseases in 5%. Thirty eight percent of males and 6% of females qualified for alcohol dependency or abuse in some moment of their lives. The figures for benzodiazepine dependency were 1916 among males and 6% among females. The figures for cannabis, cocaine or stimulant abuse were 1.5% for males and 1% for females. other conditions of the axis 1 of DSM-IIIR were diagnosed in 47% of males and 65% of females with substance abuse. Conclusions: Substance abuse underlies medical conditions in a high proportion of patients admitted to medical services in general hospitals.