Suprakash Chaudhury*, Daniel Saldanha, Rajeev Saini, Chetan Diwan, Vivek Pratap Singh and Vinayak Pathak
Background: Though anecdotal evidence of comorbid psychiatric disorders in alcohol dependent patient abound there is lack of systematic Indian studies in this area.
Aim: To determine the type and frequency of comorbid psychiatric disorders in alcohol dependent individuals as compared with matched normal population. Methods: This cross-sectional, hospital based, utilized the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview to assess 88 alcohol-dependent patients consecutively admitted to de-addiction unit of two tertiary care hospitals, one in urban area and another in rural area. A matched control group of 88 subjects from the general population were also assessed. Psychiatric diagnoses were made as per DSM IV TR criteria.
Results: Among the alcohol-dependent patients 46.59% showed personality disorders compared to 6.82% of the normal control sample. The difference was statistically significant. Depression (10.23%), mixed anxiety and depression (7.95%) and Adjustment disorder (7.95%) were most prevalent, followed by dysthymia (4.55%) and panic disorders (4.55%) were the commonest co-morbid psychiatric disorders.
Conclusion: There is high prevalence of comorbid psychiatric disorders in patients with alcohol dependence.