1. Substance use in youth at risk for psychosis.
- Author
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Carney, R., Yung, A.R., Amminger, G.P., Bradshaw, T., Glozier, N., Hermens, D.F., Hickie, I.B., Killackey, E., McGorry, P., Pantelis, C., Wood, S.J., and Purcell, R.
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SUBSTANCE-induced disorders , *AT-risk youth , *MENTAL health services , *ALCOHOL drinking , *ALTRUISM , *BREAST tumors , *CLINICAL trials , *INFORMED consent (Medical law) , *INTERVIEWING , *MAMMAPLASTY , *MASTECTOMY , *MOTIVATION (Psychology) , *QUALITY of life , *READABILITY (Literary style) , *RESEARCH funding , *TIME , *QUALITATIVE research , *TREATMENT effectiveness , *PSYCHOLOGY of human research subjects , *PATIENTS' attitudes , *PSYCHOLOGY , *CANCER & psychology ,PSYCHOSES risk factors - Abstract
Background: People with schizophrenia have high rates of substance use which contributes to co-morbidity and premature mortality. Some evidence suggests people at-risk for psychosis have high rates of substance use. We aimed to assess substance use in a help-seeking cohort, comparing those at-risk and not at-risk for psychosis, and to establish any relationship with clinical symptoms.Method: Participants were help-seeking youth presenting to mental health services in Sydney and Melbourne. 279 (34.8%) were at-risk for psychosis, and 452 (56.4%) did not meet criteria for a psychotic disorder or risk for psychosis. The excluded individuals were made up of 59 (7.4%) young people who met criteria for a psychotic disorder and 11 (1.4%) who were unable to be evaluated. We assessed the association of substance use involvement with risk status and clinical symptoms using multivariate regression.Results: Individuals at-risk for psychosis had significantly higher tobacco, alcohol and cannabis use than those not at-risk. Multivariate analysis revealed at-risk status was significantly associated with higher alcohol involvement scores when adjusting for age and gender, but no association was found for cannabis or tobacco. At-risk status was no longer associated with alcohol involvement when cannabis or tobacco use was added into the analysis.Conclusion: Tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption and cannabis use are common in help-seeking youth, particularly those at-risk for psychosis. It is important to consider co-occurring use of different substances in adolescents. Early substance misuse in this phase of illness could be targeted to improve physical and mental health in young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2017
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