Clinical Characteristics of Euthymic Bipolar Disorder Patients Comorbid with Alcohol and Drug Use Disorders and Psychometric Properties of the Assessment Tools

Objective: The primary objective of this study was to identify the frequency of alcohol and drug use disorder -abuse or dependence- (ADUD) in bipolar disorder patients who were followed in a specialized mood disorders unit and to investigate the clinical characteristics of the sample. Secondary aim of the study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the scales related with alcohol and drug use disorder among bipolar patients in remission. Methods: Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST), Drug Use Disorders Identification Test (DUDIT), and Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST-10) were applied to 292 bipolar disorder patients in the euthymic state, diagnosed by using mood disorder and alcohol/drug use disorder modules of the Structured Clinical Interview Form for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SLID-I) and monitored in our Mood Disorders Center. Results: In our sample, frequency of bipolar disorder patients with ADUD was 6.16% (18/292). 15 of 18 patients with ADUD were men and 3 were women. ADUD in men (12.00%) was higher than in women (1.79%), and this difference was statistically significant (p<0.001). Alcohol use disorder frequency was detected as 5.14% in general (15/292), 9.60% in men (12/125) and 1.79% in women (3/167). The frequency of drug use disorder was found as 4.11% in general (12/292), 8.00% in men (10/125) and 1.19% in women (2/167). Proportion of depressive, manic, hypomanic, and mixed episodes did not differ between patients with ADUD and those without ADUD, whereas the proportion of total episodes was higher in patients with ADUD and difference was statistically significant (p=0.016). Conclusions: Frequency of bipolar disorder patients comorbid with ADUD followed up in our center was found to be lower than those reported in the literature.