Is alcohol use associated with psychological treatment attendance and clinical outcomes?

Abstract BackgroundAlcohol use disorder (AUD) is a common psychiatric comorbidity in schizophrenia, associated with poor clinical outcomes and medication noncompliance. Most previous studies on the effect of alcohol use in patients with schizophrenia had limitations of small sample size and a cross-sectional design. Therefore, this study aimed to use a nationwide population database to investigate the impact of AUD on clinical outcomes of schizophrenia.MethodsData from the Health Insurance Review Agency database in South Korea from January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2016 was used. Among 64,442 patients with incident schizophrenia, 1,598 with comorbid AUD were selected based on the diagnostic code F10. We performed between- and within-group analyses to compare the rates of psychiatric admissions and emergency room (ER) visits and medication possession ratio (MPR) with control patients having schizophrenia matched for the onset age, sex, and observation period.ResultsThe rates of psychiatric admissions and ER visits decreased after the diagnosis of AUD in both groups; however, the decrease was significantly greater in patients with comorbid AUD compared to the control group. While the case group showed an increase in MPR after the diagnosis of AUD, MPR decreased in the control patients. The rates of psychiatric admissions, ER visits and MPR were worse in the schizophrenia group with comorbid AUD both before and after the diagnosis of AUD.ConclusionsClinical outcomes were worse in the comorbid AUD group than in the control group before and after the diagnosis of AUD. Considering that patients with schizophrenia with comorbid AUD had poorer clinical outcomes even before the diagnosis of AUD, schizophrenia with comorbid AUD could be a distinct subtype of schizophrenia.

Download Full-text

Hazing and the Mental Health of Medical Students

Revista Brasileira de Educação Médica ◽

10.1590/1981-52712015v41n3rb20160025ing ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 42 (2) ◽

pp. 110-120

Author(s):

Maria Cristina Pereira Lima ◽

Ana Teresa de Abreu Ramos-Cerqueira ◽

Cássia Lopes Dantas ◽

Julia Ribeiro Lamardo ◽

Luis Enrique Caton Reis ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Social Support ◽

Medical Students ◽

Alcohol Use ◽

Psychological Treatment ◽

Common Mental Disorder ◽

Male Gender ◽

The Self ◽

Harmful Alcohol ◽

Self Reporting Questionnaire

ABSTRACT Introduction: The practice of hazing is a phenomenon that began in the Middle Ages and persists in many universities around the world. In Brazil, although the problem is widely recognized, it has been insufficiently studied. Objective: To estimate the prevalence and to identify factors associated with the occurrence of hazing in a public Medical School, located in the interior of the State of São Paulo, Brazil. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted, including 477 medical students from the first to the sixth year of the course. The self-reporting questionnaire included questions and structured instruments to access: socio-demographic and academic life characteristics, social support, symptoms of depression, harmful alcohol use (using the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test — Audit), common mental disorder (using the Self-Reporting Questionnaire — SRQ) and if the participant had suffered any form of hazing that he/she considered abusive or if the participant had practiced hazing about which he/she felt guilty or regretful afterwards. Bivariate analyses and logistic regression were conducted to identify factors independently associated with each of the outcomes (having suffered abusive hazing or having participated in hazing and feeling regretful afterwards). Results: The response rate was 87.0%. Among the students, 39.8% (95% Cl: 35.4% — 44.2%) reported having suffered abusive hazing, while 7.5% (95% CI: 5.2% — 9.9%) reported having practiced hazing of which they repented. Being subjected to abusive hazing was associated with: male gender, not being adapted to the city, presenting lower scores on the social support scale and psychiatric and/or psychological treatment after admission to university. Having practiced hazing, in turn, was associated with male gender, older age and higher score in the Audit. Conclusion: Hazing was associated with male gender, and with the pursuit of mental health treatment among those who received it and with harmful alcohol use among the perpetrators. It is essential that medical schools discuss and better understand the problem of hazing in order to adopt effective preventive measures.

Download Full-text

Adverse impact of marijuana use on clinical outcomes among psychiatry patients with depression and alcohol use disorder

Psychiatry Research ◽

10.1016/j.psychres.2017.10.026 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 259 ◽

pp. 316-322 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Amber L. Bahorik ◽

Cynthia I. Campbell ◽

Stacy A. Sterling ◽

Amy Leibowitz ◽

Adam Travis ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alcohol Use ◽

Clinical Outcomes ◽

Alcohol Use Disorder ◽

Marijuana Use ◽

Adverse Impact

Download Full-text

Effects of comorbid alcohol use disorder on the clinical outcomes of first-episode schizophrenia: a nationwide population-based study

Annals of General Psychiatry ◽

10.1186/s12991-021-00353-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Soojin Ahn ◽

Youngjae Choi ◽

Woohyeok Choi ◽

Young Tak Jo ◽

Harin Kim ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alcohol Use ◽

Clinical Outcomes ◽

Alcohol Use Disorder ◽

Small Sample ◽

First Episode ◽

Control Group ◽

Diagnostic Code ◽

Psychiatric Admissions ◽

First Episode Schizophrenia ◽

The Impact

Abstract Background Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a common psychiatric comorbidity in schizophrenia, associated with poor clinical outcomes and medication noncompliance. Most previous studies on the effect of alcohol use in patients with schizophrenia had limitations of small sample size or a cross-sectional design. Therefore, we used a nationwide population database to investigate the impact of AUD on clinical outcomes of schizophrenia. Methods Data from the Health Insurance Review Agency database in South Korea from January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2016 were used. Among 64,442 patients with first-episode schizophrenia, 1598 patients with comorbid AUD were selected based on the diagnostic code F10. We performed between- and within-group analyses to compare the rates of psychiatric admissions and emergency room (ER) visits, and medication possession ratio (MPR) between the patients with comorbid AUD and control patients matched for the onset age, sex, and observation period. Results The rates of psychiatric admissions and ER visits in both groups decreased after the time point of diagnosis of AUD; however, the decrease was significantly greater in the patients with comorbid AUD compared to the control patients. While the comorbid AUD group showed an increase in MPR after the diagnosis of AUD, MPR decreased in the control group. The rates of psychiatric admissions, ER visits, and MPR were worse in the comorbid AUD group both before and after the diagnosis of AUD. Conclusions The results emphasize an importance of psychiatric comorbidities, especially AUD, in first-episode schizophrenia and the necessity of further research for confirmative findings of the association of AUD with clinical outcomes of schizophrenia.

Download Full-text

Health Literacy and Alcohol Use Predict Optimal HIV-Related Clinical Outcomes Following a Skills- Based Adherence Intervention

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e521672015-013 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

J.A. Pellowski ◽

S.C. Kalichman ◽

T. Grebler

Keyword(s):

Health Literacy ◽

Alcohol Use ◽

Clinical Outcomes ◽

Adherence Intervention

Download Full-text

Analysis of the duration of abstinence after treatment for alcohol dependence in a therapeutic community: differences between the sexes

Therapeutic Communities The International Journal of Therapeutic Communities ◽

10.1108/tc-11-2019-0016 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 41 (3/4) ◽

pp. 87-100

Author(s):

Núria Riera-Oliver ◽

Carmen Jiménez ◽

Joan Rey ◽

Ana Belén Calvo ◽

Teresa Sanchez-Gutierrez

Keyword(s):

Alcohol Use ◽

Therapeutic Community ◽

Psychological Treatment ◽

Demographic Data ◽

Intensive Therapy ◽

Age At Onset ◽

Addiction Severity Index ◽

Individual Development ◽

Content Type ◽

Alcohol Dependent

Purpose The use and abuse of alcohol is problematic for a person’s social and individual development. Maintenance of abstinence after detoxification programs is difficult for patients who experience a craving, and relapses during the course of the disorder are common. The purpose of this paper is to describe the socio-demographic and clinical features of alcohol-dependent patients by sex and alcohol use status and to analyze the percentage of patients who remained abstinent after 10 months of psychological treatment. Design/methodology/approach In total, 50 alcohol-dependent patients were enrolled (34 men and 16 women). The patients attended a psychological treatment program at a therapeutic community, Projecte Home Balears, Spain. This paper used the European Addiction Severity Index to collect socio-demographic data and data on alcohol and other drugs and the Trait Meta-Mood Scale-24 to measure emotional management. Findings Significant differences were observed in occupation (χ² = 9.9; p = 0.007) and duration of alcohol use (U = 137.000; p = 0.005) by sex and hospitalizations during the previous months (χ² = 15.477; p = 0.009) and type of chronic disorder (χ² = 7.6; p = 0.022) and duration (in months) of the longest period of abstinence after treatment in facilities (U = 219.500; p = 0.097) by alcohol use status. The survival analysis showed that 25% of relapses happened after 4.5 months of treatment; at 7.3 months, 50% of the sample remained abstinent. Originality/value Women had used alcohol for longer since age at onset than men. Furthermore, after 7.3 months of intensive therapy, 50% of alcohol-dependent patients were abstinent.

Download Full-text