Prevalence of substance use among a sample of patients attending an outpatient psychiatric clinic in Amman, Jordan

Abstract

Background: The issue of substance use is increasingly being recognised as a significant global public health concern. In relation to its influence in the Arab world, scholarly investigation continues to be regarded as relatively constrained in scope. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of substance use among patients with psychiatric disorders, as well as the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of this patient population. This cross-sectional study included 671 patients with psychiatric disorders who attended an outpatient private psychiatric clinic in Amman, Jordan, between January and May 2023. We compared the demographic and clinical characteristics of substance-using and non-substance-using patients. Bivariate and multiple binary logistic regression analyses were used to investigate factors associated with substance use.

Results: The patients were aged 20-80 years, with a mean age of 32.45 ± 10.18 years. Most patients were men, more than half were single and unemployed, and mood disorders were the most prevalent psychiatric disorder. Male sex, a younger age, lower educational attainment, current unemployment, and having a family history of substance use were associated with substance use. Substance users exhibited a higher propensity for engaging in self-harming behaviours, having medical conditions, and being subjected to emotional trauma.

Conclusions: This study found that patients with psychiatric disorders are vulnerable to experiencing substance use. Clinicians should contemplate directing their attention towards patients as a strategy to proactively address the issue of emerging substance use and enhance overall treatment outcomes.

Keywords: Cannabis; Mental illness; Psychiatric patient; Substance use.

Fig. 1

The use of multiple psychoactive substances among patients with psychiatric disorders