Medical Symptoms and Psychiatric Comorbidities in People with Methamphetamine Use Disorder

Long-term methamphetamine use is associated with health problems such as chest pain, cardiac complications, hypertension, and gastric problems. It also leads to mental health issues such as hallucinations, anxiety and depressive disorders, psychosis, and paranoia.Objective Characterize and identify the medical symptoms and psychiatric comorbidities reported by people with methamphetamine use disorder (MUD).Methods Secondary database analysis using information on physical and mental health problems obtained during history taking from 2014 to 2021. A total of 208,764 patients with medical records, all those who met the diagnosis of MUD were selected, analyzing a sample of 8,713 people with MUD.Results Tobacco (85.8%), alcohol (68.1%), and marijuana (31.2%) were used in the past month. Anxiety (25.2%), depressive (23.9%), and psychotic (11.3%) disorders were the most prevalent disorders, with tachycardia (10.1%), gastritis (9.8%), depression (16.7%), anxiety (13.3%), insomnia (12.1%), psychosis (13.6%), myalgia (7.8%) and dyspnea (6.4%) being the most frequently reported conditions.Conclusions Methamphetamine use is associated with a range of medical and psychiatric conditions, creating problems that require multidisciplinary care to address the complications arising from its use.