TY - JOUR
PY - 2013//
TI - Monitoring the prevalence of methamphetamine-related presentations at psychiatric hospitals in Cape Town, South Africa
JO - African journal of psychiatry
A1 - Plüddemann, A.
A1 - Dada, S.
A1 - Parry, C. D.
A1 - Kader, R.
A1 - Parker, J. S.
A1 - Temmingh, H.
A1 - van Heerden, S.
A1 - de Clercq, C.
A1 - Lewis, I.
SP - 45
EP - 49
VL - 16
IS - 1
N2 - OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine a demographic profile of methamphetamine (MA)-related admissions to major psychiatric services in Cape Town, obtain a substance use profile from admitted patients, a profile of common MA-related symptoms encountered during the assessment of the patients presenting with MA-related problems, and a brief profile of the psychiatric diagnoses made. METHOD: Staff in six psychiatric hospitals or wards in Cape Town collected data on methamphetamine related admissions between July and December 2008 using a one-page record review form. The data collection form consisted of the patient's demographic details, presenting symptoms, previous admission details, current MA and other substance use information, and DSM-IV diagnosis. RESULTS: A total of 235 forms were completed. Most patients were male (69%) and the mean age was 25 years. The most common presenting symptoms were aggressive behaviour (74%), followed by delusions (59%) and hallucinations (57%). Males were two times more likely to present with aggression as compared to females, while females were significantly more likely to present with depressed mood or euphoric/elevated mood. The majority of patients had substance-induced psychotic disorder (41%), followed by schizophrenia (31%). Twelve percent (12%) had bipolar mood disorder. CONCLUSION: MA-related psychiatric admissions pose serious challenges to all health services dealing with these patients. Further training and treatment protocol development and distribution is indicated. Language: en
LA - en
SN - 1994-8220
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ajpsy.v16i1.8
ID - ref1
ER -