Birnie KI, Stewart R, Kolliakou A. Recorded atypical hallucinations in psychotic and affective disorders and associations with non-benzodiazepine hypnotic use: the South London and Maudsley Case Register.
BMJ Open 2018;
8:e025216. [PMID:
30269078 PMCID:
PMC6169776 DOI:
10.1136/bmjopen-2018-025216]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES
Hallucinations are present in many conditions, notably psychosis. Although under-researched, atypical hallucinations, such as tactile, olfactory and gustatory (TOGHs), may arise secondary to hypnotic drug use, particularly non-benzodiazepine hypnotics ('Z drugs'). This retrospective case-control study investigated the frequency of TOGHs and their associations with prior Z drug use in a large mental healthcare database.
METHODS
TOGHs were ascertained in 2014 using a bespoke natural language processing algorithm and were analysed against covariates (including use of Z drugs, demographic factors, diagnosis, disorder severity and other psychotropic medications) ascertained prior to 2014.
RESULTS
In 43 339 patients with International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition schizophreniform or affective disorder diagnoses, 324 (0.75%) had any TOGH recorded (0.54% tactile, 0.24% olfactory, 0.06% gustatory hallucinations). TOGHs were associated with male gender, black ethnicity, schizophreniform diagnosis and higher disorder severity on Health of the National Outcome Scales. In fully adjusted models, tactile and olfactory hallucinations remained independently associated with prior mention of Z drugs (ORs 1.86 and 1.60, respectively).
CONCLUSIONS
We successfully developed a natural language processing algorithm to identify instances of TOGHs in the clinical record. TOGHs overall, tactile and olfactory hallucinations were shown to be associated with prior mention of Z drugs. This may have implications for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with comorbid sleep and psychiatric conditions.
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