Home > Polysubstance use in young people accessing residential and day treatment services for substance use: substance use profiles, psychiatric comorbidity, and treatment completion.

Mefodeva, Valeriya and Carlyle, Molly and Walter, Zoe and Chan, Gary and Hides, Leanne (2022) Polysubstance use in young people accessing residential and day treatment services for substance use: substance use profiles, psychiatric comorbidity, and treatment completion. Addiction, 117, (12), pp. 3110-3120. doi: 10.1111/add.16008.

External website: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.16...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: People with substance use disorders (SUDs) frequently present to treatment with polysubstance use and mental health comorbidities. Different combinations of substance use and mental health problems require different treatment approaches. Our study aimed to (i) identify the shared substance use classes among young people at treatment admission, (ii) determine which mental health symptoms, quality of life (QOL) and service types were associated with the identified substance use classes, and (iii) prospectively determine which substance use classes and service types were more likely to complete treatment.

DESIGN: Cross-sectional and prospective study using service and outcome data. Setting was substance use treatment services in Queensland and New South Wales, Australia. De-identified service and outcome measure data were extracted from the files of 744 clients aged 18-35 years old (47.60% male) admitted into seven residential and four day-treatment programs.

MEASUREMENTS: Substance use and severity across: tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, amphetamine type stimulants, opioids, sedatives, and inhalants. Other variables included: depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress and psychotic symptoms, as well as QOL.

FINDINGS: Latent Class Analysis identified three polysubstance use classes: wide ranging polysubstance users (WRPU; 22.45%), primary amphetamine users (56.45%) and alcohol and cannabis users (21.10%). The WRPU class had higher odds of psychotic symptoms than the alcohol and cannabis use class; and double the odds of residential program enrolment than those in the amphetamine use class. No other class differences on mental health or QOL variables were found. Clients enrolled in day programs had higher odds of completing treatment.

CONCLUSIONS: There appear to be high levels of polysubstance use among young people entering substance use treatment in Australia. Wide ranging polysubstance users were more likely to report psychotic symptoms and be enrolled in a residential program than primary amphetamine users and alcohol and cannabis users.


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