The presence of alcohol use disorders over a three months period in a general psychiatric ward of “Alexandru Obregia” Clinical Hospital of Psychiatry”
The presence of alcohol use disorders over a three months period in a general psychiatric ward of “Alexandru Obregia” Clinical Hospital of Psychiatry”

Summary/Abstract: Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are associated with many co-morbidities, generating increased costs for healthcare systems worldwide. Part of these costs are due to hospital admissions necessary for treatment. Objectives: Our research aimed to assess the prevalence and characteristics of cases with AUDs as a primary or secondary diagnosis over a three-month period in a general psychiatric ward of the Clinical Psychiatric Hospital "Prof. Dr. Alexandru Obregia". Methods: We conducted an observational, cross-sectional and retrospective study. Only admissions of adult male patients with a primary or secondary diagnosis at discharge of AUDs were included. Data collected from the hospital's database included: age, gender, primary and secondary diagnoses at discharge, length of stay, type admission (voluntary/non-voluntary) and character of admissions (emergency or non-emergency), health insurance and employment status. Results: 99 admissions of male patients, with a primary or secondary diagnosis related to alcohol use were identified from a total of 252 admissions. The mean age ± SD of the patients was 48.04 (±11,93). AUDs were present in 8 (8.08%) cases as a primary diagnosis and in 91 (91.92%) as a secondary diagnosis. For the admissions in which AUDs were present as a secondary diagnosis, the most frequent primary diagnosis was represented by different types of ‘depressive disorders’ 44 (48.35%) and ‘personality disorders’ 19 (20.88%). Other important findings show a high percent of involuntary admission 45 (45.45%) and a low percent of patients with health insurance 44 (44.44%).Conclusions: Findings in our study show a high number of AUDs as a secondary diagnosis suggesting a need for further, more extensive research to provide a more accurate picture of the real prevalence and consequences of AUDs in Romanian psychiatric hospitals.

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