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Co-morbidity and cannabis use in a mental health trust in South East England.

Trathen B, O'gara C, Sarkhel A, Sessay M, Rao H, Luty J

CDAT, 2nd floor Aylmer House, Kitson Way, Harlow Essex CM20 1DL, United Kingdom. bruce.trathen@nemhpt.nhs.uk

AIM: The prevalence of co-morbidity (severe mental illness and substance) may be less in rural and semi-rural areas than inner cities. The aims were therefore to measure the prevalence of co-morbidity among patients of attending a mental health service in a semi-rural area South East England. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: Cross-sectional prevalence survey of 1,808 patients with detailed assessments from a representative sample of 373 patients identified as having a combination of severe mental illness and substance misuse. Interviews with key workers were performed using validated methods from the COSMIC study. RESULTS: The response rates equalled or exceeded 90% for the various parts of the study. One-tenth of patients attending the Community Mental Health Teams (CMHTs) reported problematic use of illicit drugs and 17% reported alcohol problems in the past year. 22% of Community Drug and Alcohol Service (CDAS) clients reported a severe mental illness and 46% reported some other form of psychiatric disorder. Of patients with a combined diagnosis of mental illness and substance misuse, cannabis use was 4-fold more common amongst patients attending the CMHT than CDAS (33% vs. 8%) while use of amphetamine was five-fold higher in the CMHT group (10% vs. 2%). Patients with concurrent psychiatric and substance misuse problems represent a similar proportion of the aggregate caseload of both treatment services with observed prevalence amongst the CDAS and CMHT patients with a diagnosis for anxiety disorder (18% vs. 26%), minor depression (42% vs. 32%), personality disorders (32% vs. 36%), histories of self-harm (52% vs. 46%) and violence (33% vs. 30%) respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Co-morbidity is common in clients amongst CMHT and CDAS clients although use of cannabis was significantly more common in CMHT clients than in CDAS clients.

Published 13 August 2007 in Addict Behav, 32(10): 2164-77.
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