COMPARISON OF MEASURES USED TO DETERMINE SUBSTANCE-ABUSE IN AN INPATIENT PSYCHIATRIC POPULATION

Eighty-nine of 178 consecutively admitted inpatients were administered the substance abuse sections of the Structured Clinical Interview of DSM-III-R - Patient Version (SCID-P). Patients also provided a urine s ample for toxicologic analysis. In addition, primary clinicians assign ed admission and discharge diagnoses. Test characteristics (e.g, sensi tivity) for confirming a current diagnosis of psychoactive substance a buse were calculated for each measure and compared. Urine toxicology a nalyses and admission and discharge diagnoses were significantly less accurate in diagnosing psychoactive substance abuse than the SCID-P. T his finding indicates that substance abuse is frequently not noted dur ing routine admission and discharge assessments.