A new study on psychiatric hospitalisations, out now in Drug and Alcohol Dependence, found that while most hospitalisations did not involve any substances, methamphetamine-related hospitalisations have increased even as the overall number of psychiatric hospitalisations remained stable.
Additionally, researchers detail that psychiatric hospitalisations caused by methamphetamine use was highest in a region which has higher reported methamphetamine use, but were also shifting geographically.
“Rates of methamphetamine-involved psychiatric hospitalisations were by far the highest in the Mountain West,” said Susan Calcaterra, MD, MPH, professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and study lead author. “As expected, this mirrors rates of self-reported methamphetamine use and methamphetamine-related overdose deaths in the Mountain West,” Calcaterra said. “Psychiatric hospitalisations involving methamphetamine use is really taking off in the Midwest and Northeast, in particular.”
Study underscores need for clinic-based harm-reduction tactics
While rates of methamphetamine-related psychiatric hospitalisations increased 68% over the study period, opioid-related hospitalizations decreased by 22%. Methamphetamine rate increases may be attributed to methamphetamine’s ubiquity and affordability, as well as the lack of resources available to manage methamphetamine use. Why opioid-involved psychiatric hospitalizations declined is less clear but may be related to the lethality of fentanyl.
“An important takeaway from this study is the need for resources to address the mental and physical treatment of methamphetamine use,” Calcaterra said.
“While the vast majority of psychiatric hospitalisations in this timeframe did not involve substance use, the significant increase in methamphetamine use means we have to better consider harm reduction in clinical settings,” she said.
“Evidence-based interventions such as contingency management, which involves offering incentives for abstinence, harm reduction education, provision of naloxone for overdose reversal and access to expanded mental health treatments are proven to help mitigate dangerous effects from methamphetamine use, especially when contaminated with fentanyl much like the campaigns aimed at public awareness around opioid use.”
