Nonalcohol-related use disorders in geropsychiatric patients

The authors determined the prevalence and demographic features of drug use disorders in a database of 565 veteran geropsychiatric inpatients. Twenty-f our patients (4%) were diagnosed with nonalcoholic substance use disorders, including 18 (3%) with prescription drug use disorders and 6 (1%) with ill egal drug use disorders. The patients diagnosed with prescription drug use disorders were predominantly Caucasian, whereas those diagnosed with illega l substance use disorders were predominantly African American. No other sig nificant demographic differences were noted. Nonalcohol substance use disor ders represent an unappreciated problem in psychiatrically hospitalized old er adults, with illegal substance use disorders making up a larger than exp ected proportion of this group.