Introduction:

Epidemiological studies have shown a high prevalence and concurrence bet ween depression and substance use. This is known as "dual diagnosis" and is associated with a worse prognosis for patients.

Objective:

To establish the comorbidity between depressive symptoms and substance abuse in patients admitted with acute or chronic diseases to a public hospital.

Methods:

A descriptive, cross-sectional study of prevalence which included 296 patients aged 18 to 65, to whom the PHQ-9 and ASSIST 3.0 scales were applied to determine the pre valence of depressive symptoms and substance abuse. Other clinical and sociodemographic variables were also taken into account.

Results:

50.7% were women with a median age of 41 and an interquartile range of 27 years. Moderate-to-severe depressive symptoms were found in 27.4% of the patients. Alcohol was the substance with the highest consumption in the previous 3 months with 53.7%, followed by cigarettes (47.6%), marijuana (26.7%) and cocaine (14.5%). A significant association was found between severe depressive symptoms PHQ-9 ≥20 and problematic use of alcohol, marijuana and cocaine (ASSIST score > 26); alcohol (RP 27.30, 95% CI [2.37-314.16], P = 0.01); marijuana (RP 15.00, 95% CI [3.46-64.96], P = 0.001) and cocaine (RP 10.65, 95% CI [2.23-51.10], P=0.01).

Discussion:

A high prevalence of depressive symptoms and substance use was found in patients hospitalized for non-psychiatric medical conditions, which worsens the prognosis of the underlying medical condition.

Conclusions:

To provide better hospital care for patients, we need to give visibility to the problem of dual pathology. This could be achieved by conducting more related research in these clinical scenarios.

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