Drug abuse and viral hepatitis among psychiatric admissions to a Finnish psychiatric emergency ward

In Finland injection drug abuse has recently re-emerged as a public health problem, particularly among young age groups. This is reflected in a rapid increase in the incidence of hepatitis virus infections. Since substance abuse in general is a problem among psychiatric admissions, we decided to stu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nordic journal of psychiatry 1999-01, Vol.53 (2), p.141-145
Main Author: Pirkko Turpeinen, Pauli Leinikki, Timo Seppälä, Heikki Forsman, Ulf-Göran Ahlfors
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Amphetamine
Benzodiazepine
Drug abuse
Ethanol
Hepatitis B virus
Hepatitis C virus
Human immunodeficiency virus
Human immunodeficiency virus 1
Infection
Language
Mental disorders
Public health
Urine
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Summary:In Finland injection drug abuse has recently re-emerged as a public health problem, particularly among young age groups. This is reflected in a rapid increase in the incidence of hepatitis virus infections. Since substance abuse in general is a problem among psychiatric admissions, we decided to study the prevalence of viral infections and chemically defined drug abuse among a cohort of psychiatric admissions in Helsinki. During a 3-month period 650 admissions were studied by clinical and laboratory methods. Forty-five admitted injection drug abuse, most of them amphetamine. Alcohol and benzodiazepine abuse was quite common. The urine test detected substances suggesting abuse in 18 patients. Altogether 82 patients had signs of present or past viral hepatitis; 15 had hepatitis C virus only; 45 had hepatitis B virus only; 21 had both viruses; and 1 was positive for human immunodeficiency virus. Several patients with needle marks suggesting drug injection were negative for viral markers. The result shows that viral infections correlated with injection drug abuse are common among psychiatric admissions in Finland even though the background prevalence in the general population is low.
ISSN:0803-9488
1502-4725
DOI:10.1080/080394899426855