COMORBIDITY OF SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS WITH MOOD AND ANXIETY DISORDERS - RESULTS OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONSORTIUM IN PSYCHIATRIC EPIDEMIOLOGY

This article reports the results of a cross-national investigation of patterns of comorbidity between substance use and psychiatric disorder s in six studies participating in the International Consortium in Psyc hiatric Epidemiology. In general, there was a strong association betwe en mood and anxiety disorders as well as conduct and antisocial person ality disorder with substance disorders at all sites. The results also suggest that there is a continuum in the magnitude of comorbidity as a function of the spectrum of substance use category (use, problems, d ependence), as well as a direct relationship between the number of com orbid disorders and increasing levels of severity of substance use dis orders (which was particularly pronounced for drugs). Finally, whereas there was no specific temporal pattern of onset for mood disorders in relation to substance disorders, the onset of anxiety disorders was m ore likely to precede that of substance disorders in all countries. Th ese results illustrate the contribution of cross-national data to unde rstanding the patterns and risk factors for psychopathology and substa nce use disorders. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.