Somatic comorbidity of addicts: Does hospitalization yield relevant findings?

The aim of this prospective study was to examine the severity and character of somatic comorbidity when addicted patients were admitted to hospital fo r detoxification. The study was conducted at a university-based psychiatric clinic. Somatic comorbidity was registered by laboratory, radiological and electrocardiographic parameters and by the amount of non-psychiatric consu ltations. Besides the number of patients with dual diagnosis interpreted as combination of addictive and psychiatric diseases was registered. A total of 111 consecutive patients (32 women) was divided into patients with alcoh ol dependence and patients with other addictive diseases including polydrug abuse and opiate dependence. Patients with alcohol dependence were charact erized by an elevated heart rate and higher values for gamma -glutamyltrans ferase. Nu significant differences between groups could be found for the ra te corrected QT interval and cardiothoracic ratio. Although viral liver dis ease was diagnosed in both groups patients with a history of injecting drug use were at greatest risk for hepatitis C. About one-third of all patients required consultant nan-psychiatric treatment. Concomitant heart and pulmo nary diseases were mole pronounced in tile alcohol dependence group. The fi ndings emphasize that hospitalization of addicted patients yields relevant somatic morbidity which has an impact on cost and requires medically superv ised detoxification programs. (C) 2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All right s reserved.