A clinical and sociodemographic evaluation of youths with substance use disorders in a child and adolescent inpatient unit of a mental health hospital

Abstract

METHODS: Medical records of substance user patients treated between 2014 and 2017 in Inpatient Child Psychiatry Unit of Mental Health Hospital were examined retrospectively. SPSS 20.00 Statistical Package Program was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: 92 substance user child and youth had been treated. The median age of cases was 15,4 ( ±1,4), the onset age of substance use was 13,1 (1,4). 68,5 %of these case is male gender and 31,5 % is female. The most common substance used is marijuana and extacy (62% ), the substance user youth have met with the substance around friends(90,2%). Living conditions were found to be lower socioeconomic level (50%). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: According to our clinic results, substance use is an important problem affecting youths, especially at lower socioeconomic level and male adolescents. Our study represents only the clinical sample, so there is a need for more community-based epidemiological studies.

Keywords

• child
• adolescent
• drug addiction