Psychiatric Comorbidities in Patients with Alcohol Use Disorder

Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) represents a major public health problem that has been increasing in India and all over the world. Alcohol users have a three-fold increased risk of developing another psychiatric disorder. Hence, the purpose of this study was to assess the magnitude of psychiatric comorbidities in patients with AUD and to describe the prescription pattern of drugs used in their management. The prevalence of Depression and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) among AUD patients was respectively found to be 37.01% and 32.20% considering from mild to severe level of disorder. A significant association was found between AUD patients diagnosed with Depression and those diagnosed with GAD with p-value significant at <0.05, where 30.79% of patients were having both Depression and GAD. From the treatment view, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) especially Escitalopram made up 94.44% of antidepressants used to treat depressive AUD patients. Lorazepam (47.5%) was the most prescribed benzodiazepine drug used to treat AUD patients with GAD. From this study, it is evident that psychiatric comorbidities are common in patients diagnosed with AUD. Therefore, a thorough assessment of the mental health of such patients is necessary. A proper treatment strategy should be planned and implemented to provide an effective treatment care to AUD patients alone and to those experiencing any other psychiatric comorbidities at the same time, thereby promoting better health outcomes and preventing alcohol relapse and withdrawal.