Hospitalization Associated With Comorbid Psychiatric and Substance Use Disorders Among Adults With COVID-19 Treated in US Emergency Departments From April 2020 to August 2021

Self-medication of pain and discomfort with alcohol and other substances by people with HIV infection and substance use disorder: preliminary findings from a secondary analysis

There is a limited literature regarding factors associated with self-medication of pain and discomfort using alcohol, non-prescription substances or overuse of prescription medications among people living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). This cross-sectional analysis used data from the Boston ARCH Cohort among participants with HIV infection and a history of alcohol or other substance use. Among 248 participants, 37% were female, 50% Black, 25% Latinx; 36% reported fair to poor health and 89% had CD4 cell counts >200/mm3. Half reported self-medication and of those, 8.8% reported doing so only with alcohol, 48.8% only with other substances and 42.4% with both alcohol and other substances. Those reporting self-medication were significantly (p < .05) younger (mean 47 vs 50 years), less employed (11% vs 21%), and less likely to have HIV viral suppression (60% vs. 80%). Depression, anxiety, and HIV symptoms were associated with significantly greater odds of self-medicating, as were substance dependence, recent injection substance use, heavy alcohol use, cocaine use, opioid use, sedative use, and cannabis use. Self-medication, highly prevalent and associated with worse mental health symptoms, greater substance use, and lesser HIV disease control, should be explored by HIV clinicians caring for people who use substances.

Abstinence duration and psychopathology among addiction outpatients during 18 months of COVID-19

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the mental health of patients with substance use disorder (SUD). However, few longitudinal studies have been done which examine associations between the pandemic, SUD patients' mental health and their drug use.

Objectives

This study aimed to examine duration of abstinence according to psychiatric status among SUD outpatients followed-up for 18 months from the pandemic related lockdown.

Methods

A follow-up study of 316 SUD outpatients was undertaken. Sociodemographic features, and clinical and consumption related variables were recorded. Pre, during and post lockdown information was evaluated. Abstinence/substance use was monitored at the patient's scheduled follow-up appointments, and psychiatric disorders and psychological variables were revaluated at 18 months.

Results

Survival analyses were used to compare the duration of abstinence (in months) from the beginning of the lockdown. It was observed that 70% of patients consumed the main substance for which they were being treated at some point during the follow-up. Men, younger patients, those with more symptoms of anxiety and personality disorders, and patients who experienced increased craving during follow-up, showed shorter duration of abstinence. While patients who had previously maintained at least one year of abstinence, achieved better results.

Conclusions

During the first year and a half of the pandemic, SUD outpatients presented alterations in mental health, such us anxiety, depression and maladaptive personality traits and a high rate of relapse. For this reason, despite the health and social crisis and their restrictive measures, a comprehensive treatment should be ensured.

Patterns of admission in forensic units during the COVID-19 pandemic: a process analysis

Introduction

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on forensic service practice remains matter of debate. Increased rates of anxiety, depression, and exacerbation of psychotic symptoms were reported in the early phases of the pandemic among detained persons. However, longitudinal analyses in medium-security hospitals taking into account the whole pandemic period led to mitigated results.

Methods

This report examines the evolution of the type (voluntary versus involuntary) and reason of admissions, length of stay, history of outpatient care, short-term seclusion hours for aggressive behaviors, and clinical diagnoses for detainees needing acute psychiatric care during the COVID-19 pandemic in the sole secure ward located in the central prison of Geneva, Switzerland. To determine the general trend of the processes over time we applied a combination of process analysis with run chart plotting, and fractional polynomial regression.

Results

Run tests showed that the proportion of cases with personality disorders, substance use disorders (SUD), and previous outpatient care tended to increase during the COVID pandemic with subsequent decrease to reach the pre-COVID values. This was also the case for depressive symptoms as reason for admission. The proportion of involuntary admission showed a steady increase both during the COVID and post-COVID time periods. In contrast, short-term seclusion hours decreased during the COVID pandemic followed by a return to their pre-COVID values. Regression models revealed that the COVID pandemic was associated with a significant increase in the rates of inmates with personality disorders and SUD admitted for forensic care explaining 36 and 41% of their variance.

Discussion

These data support the idea that, in terms of acute care needs, the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with increased needs for acute forensic care that concerned detainees with personality disorders characterized by increased levels of impulsiveness, decreased tolerance to frustrations, loss of control, increased extraversion and frequent SUD comorbidity.

Incidence of SARS-CoV-2 and all-cause mortality in persons with co-occurring substance use disorder and mental illness during the pandemic: a Norwegian cohort study

PURPOSE

Most people were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Persons with co-occurring substance use disorder (SUD) and mental illness (MI) are already a marginalized group, with above average mortality. Thus, the study aim was to investigate SARS-CoV-2 incidence and mortality among persons with SUD/MI during the first two years of the pandemic.

METHODS

This historical cohort study merged data from the Norwegian Patient Register, the Norwegian Surveillance System for Communicable Diseases and census data from Statistics Norway. We calculated crude mortality rates for persons with SUD and mild/moderate vs. severe MI and compared them to persons with physical illnesses or healthy controls. The incidence rate ratios for SARS-CoV-2 infection and mortality were estimated using Poisson regression models.

RESULTS

Compared to healthy controls, the SARS-Cov-2-infection rate was marginally lower in persons with SUD and mild/moderate MI (IRR,1.19 [95%CI,1.09-1.30]) as in persons with physical illness (IRR,1.35 [95%CI, 1.23-1.47]), whereas persons with SUD and severe MI showed a lower rate compared to healthy controls. Crude mortality rates for persons with SUD/MI were substantially higher and increased much more during the pandemic than for persons with physical illnesses or healthy controls. The IRR for mortality in persons with SUD and mild/moderate MI was 10.61 (95%CI,7.19-15.67) and 11.44 (95%CI,7.50-17.45) for SUD and severe MI, compared to 5.03 (3.34-7.57]) for persons with physical illnesses only.

CONCLUSION

The analysis showed excess mortality during COVID-19-pandemic for SUD/MI, but without higher SARS-CoV-2 infection rates in this group. Consequently, excess mortality among persons with SUD/MI was not due to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Effects of Buprenorphine, Methadone and Substance-Use on COVID-19 Morbidity and Mortality

Objectives

Substance use disorder has been associated with increased morbidity in COVID-19 infection. However, less is known about the impact of active substance use and medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) on COVID-19 outcomes. We conducted a retrospective cohort study to evaluate the impact of substance use, namely cannabis, cocaine, alcohol, sedative and opioid use as well as buprenorphine or methadone = on COVID-19 morbidity and mortality.

Methods

Using electronic-health record data at a large urban hospital system, patients who tested positive for COVID-19 between January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2021 were included. Substance use was identified from urine toxicology and MOUD prescriptions within 90 days prior to admission. COVID-19 outcomes included mortality, ICU admission, need for ventilatory support, number and duration of hospitalizations. Multivariable logistic regression was performed controlling for variables such as age, sex, medical comorbidity, tobacco use, and social disadvantage.

Results

Among COVID-19 positive patients (n=17,423), sedative, cannabis, cocaine, and opioid use was associated with statistically significant increases in need for ICU care, need for ventilatory support, number of hospitalizations and duration of hospitalization. Substance use was not associated with an increase in all-cause mortality. There were no statistically significant differences between methadone, buprenorphine and other opioids on COVID-19 outcomes.

Conclusions

Active substance use were associated with increased morbidity in COVID-19 infection. MOUD was not associated with worse COVID-19 outcomes compared to OUD. Future studies focused on MOUD treatments that reduce morbidity may help improve clinical outcomes in COVID-19.

COVID-19 risk, course and outcome in people with mental disorders: a systematic review and meta-analyses

AIMS

It has been suggested that people with mental disorders have an elevated risk to acquire severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and to be disproportionally affected by coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) once infected. We aimed to analyse the COVID-19 infection rate, course and outcome, including mortality and long COVID, in people with anxiety, depressive, neurodevelopmental, schizophrenia spectrum and substance use disorders relative to control subjects without these disorders.

METHODS

This study constitutes a preregistered systematic review and random-effects frequentist and Bayesian meta-analyses. Major databases were searched up until 27 June 2023.

RESULTS

Eighty-one original articles were included reporting 304 cross-sectional and prospective effect size estimates (median n per effect-size = 114837) regarding associations of interest. Infection risk was not significantly increased for any mental disorder that we investigated relative to samples of people without these disorders. The course of COVID-19, however, is relatively severe, and long COVID and COVID-19-related hospitalization are more likely in all patient samples that we investigated. The odds of dying from COVID-19 were high in people with most types of mental disorders, except for those with anxiety and neurodevelopmental disorders relative to non-patient samples (pooled ORs range, 1.26-2.57). Bayesian analyses confirmed the findings from the frequentist approach and complemented them with estimates of the strength of evidence.

CONCLUSIONS

Once infected, people with pre-existing mental disorders are at an elevated risk for a severe COVID-19 course and outcome, including long COVID and mortality, relative to people without pre-existing mental disorders, despite an infection risk not significantly increased.

Female sex and burden of depressive symptoms predict insufficient response to telemedical treatment in adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: results from a naturalistic patient cohort during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a chronic neuropsychiatric disorder, that typically manifests itself during childhood and persists in a majority of the affected individuals into adulthood, negatively affecting physical and mental health. Previous studies have shown detrimental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in individuals with ADHD. Thus, telemedicine could be a useful tool for optimizing treatment-outcomes in adult ADHD by improving treatment adherence and persistence. However, data on telemedical treatment outcomes in adult patients with ADHD is scarce.

Methods

We report here the sub-cohort analysis of a naturalistic cohort of adult patients (N = 254) recruited between April 2020-April 2021, comparing the effects of telemedical treatment on participants either clinically diagnosed with depression (N = 54) or ADHD (N = 67). Participants were asked to fill out the WHO-5 repetitively during >12 weeks of telemedical treatment. Furthermore scores of WHO-5, SCL-90R and BDI-II, psychopathology, psychosocial functioning, sociodemographic data, medical records and a feedback survey were analyzed for both groups and compared. Participants with ADHD were further stratified according to the development of well-being during the study period in order to identify factors associated with a satisfactory treatment outcome.

Results

Participants with depression reported a significant improvement of well-being during the course of the study, while no such effect could be seen in participants with ADHD on a group level. Despite the good outcome, participants with depression were more severely affected at baseline, with significantly worse psychopathology and a more precarious labor and financial situation. A detailed analysis of ADHD participants without clinical improvement revealed significantly higher BDI-II scores than for ADHD participants with a satisfactory outcome (p = 0.03, Mann-Whitney-U-Test), suggesting successful treatment was hampered by the combination of ADHD and depressive symptoms. Furthermore, female sex among ADHD patients was correlated with an unfavorable treatment outcome during the course of the study (p = 0.001, Spearman correlation) as well as living with children (p = 0.02, Spearman correlation).

Conclusion

Besides screening for depressive symptoms before telemedical treatment, future research should address the specific needs of female ADHD patients as these patients may be at a particularly high risk of being overburdened with family work.