Analysis of the profiles of patients with dual pathology attending addiction centers, mental health centers, and a coordinated service

Abstract

The sample consisted of 170 patients diagnosed with dual pathology, re-cruited using an accidental sampling technique. Of the sample, 64 were be-ing treated at Addiction Center of Huelva (ADH), 51 at various Commu-nity of Mental Health Units (CMHU) in the province of Huelva and 55 were treated with a coordinated use of both resources. The patients were diagnosed using MINI and PID-5. A higher prevalence of patients with a cocaine and heroin dependence profile was observed in the patients treat-ed in ADH (35.9%, as opposed to 2% in CMHU and 16.4% in the coor-dinated service). For those patients treated in CMHU there was a higher prevalence of profiles related to cannabis dependence (41.2%, as opposed to 9.4% in the ADH and 16.4% in the coordinated service). The odds ra-tio for hypomanic episodes was 2.879 (p < 0.05) for patients in ADH compared with the other two services. The odds ratio observed for manic episodes was 0.483 (p < .05) in ADH patients, whilst for patients in CMHU there was a higher prevalence of comorbid psychotic disorders in comparison with those using ADH services (66% as opposed to 37.5%). The high prevalence of comorbid disorders -along with the differences in profiles identified between services- suggests the need to consider treating these patients using integrated services.