Most U.S. Psychiatric Hospitalizations Do Not Involve Substances

MONDAY, Aug. 26, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Most psychiatric hospitalizations do not involve substances, according to a study published in the Sept. 1 issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

Susan L. Calcaterra, M.D., from the University of Colorado in Aurora, and colleagues compared U.S. temporal trends in methamphetamine-involved psychiatric hospitalizations. The analysis included data from 963,202 psychiatric hospitalizations (quarter 4 2015 to quarter 4 2019).

The researchers found that 5.2 percent of hospitalizations involved methamphetamine and 10.7 percent involved opioids and/or cocaine without methamphetamine. Over time, methamphetamine-involved psychiatric hospitalization rates increased by 68.0 percent, and psychiatric hospitalization rates involving opioid and/or cocaine without methamphetamine decreased by 22 percent. Non-substance-involved psychiatric hospitalization rates remained unchanged. People older than 61 years of age, males, and Midwesterners experienced the largest significant increases in methamphetamine-involved psychiatric hospitalization rates. In Black patients, methamphetamine-involved psychiatric hospitalization rates doubled. 

“While the vast majority of psychiatric hospitalizations in this timeframe did not involve substance use, the significant increase in methamphetamine use means we have to better consider harm reduction in clinical settings,” Calcaterra said in a statement. “Evidence-based interventions such as contingency management which involves offering incentives for abstinence, harm reduction education, provision of naloxone for overdose reversal and access to expanded mental health treatments are proven to help mitigate dangerous effects from methamphetamine use.”

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