Prevalence of psychoactive substance use among psychiatric in-patients in Harare, Zimbabwe.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the prevalence of psychoactive substance use among psychiatric in-patients in Harare.

DESIGN

A cross sectional study that was conducted in 1994.

SETTING

Harare Central Hospital Psychiatric Unit.

SUBJECTS: A total of 194 consecutively admitted patients to Harare Central Hospital Psychiatric Unit, aged from 16 to 55 years with a mean (SD) age of 33.5 (11.4) years.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The psychiatric diagnoses were made according to the ICD10 diagnostic criteria, while the substance abuse was evaluated by the modified WHO AUDIT core questionnaire, which was translated into the Shona language.

RESULTS

The point prevalence rate of psychoactive substance abuse among the psychiatric in-patients were alcohol 28.4% (95% CI = 22.1, 34.7), tobacco 27.6% (95% CI = 18.7, 36.5) and cannabis 14.3% (95% CI = 7.4, 21.2).

CONCLUSION

The data have provided scientific evidence on the moderate prevalence and pattern of substance abuse among psychiatric patients in Zimbabwe.