Binge drinking common in psychiatric outpatients.

SAN FRANCISCO -- A computer-based intake survey of 422 psychiatric outpatients showed that 27% reported having at least five drinks on a single occasion within the past 30 days, reported Derek D. Satre, Ph.D.

In addition, 28% reported having eight or more drinks at one time during the past year, said Dr. Satre of the department of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco and the division of research at Kaiser Permanente, Oakland.

Patients who reported binge drinking had significantly higher scores on the Beck Depression Inventory than did those who did not (26.1 versus 20.6). Men were significantly more likely to report binge drinking than were women, by 32% to 22%, Dr. Satre said.

The findings, reported at a meeting on depression research and treatment sponsored by the university, were part of a broader-based study of substance use among individuals seeking outpatient psychiatric care at the university's Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute. The results of the larger study were published in April (Psychiatr. Serv. 2008;59:441-4).

All 422 of the patients in the smaller study completed the computer-based intake survey on their medical, psychiatric, and substance-use history. Studies show that "people are more willing to divulge drug use and other sensitive information to a computer than to a human being," he said.

To further increase the possibility of getting honest responses, the intake survey first asked whether the patient had ever in his or her life used a certain substance, and only later asked about use within the past year or month. By asking the less sensitive question about lifetime use first, "We tried not to train them to say no," Dr. Satre said.

Of the patients, 69.2% were women, 30.3% were men, and 0.5% were transgender individuals. The investigators found statistically significant gender differences in several measures of substance use. For example, 84% of men versus 74% of women reported drinking alcohol, and 9% of men versus 5% of women reported using amphetamines during the past year.

Tobacco, marijuana, and sedatives "other than prescribed" followed alcohol in terms of frequency of use.

Dr. Satre disclosed that he had no financial interests, arrangements, or affiliations with any commercial companies related to his presentation.

BY ROBERT FINN

San Francisco Bureau