The article, “Predictors and Correlates of Positive Urine Drug Screening in a Retrospective Cohort Analysis of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Inpatients Throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic,” has been published in SAj.
In this commentary, the authors state youth substance use is associated with significant psychological, neurological, and medical complications. Risk factors for substance use among children and adolescents in the general population include peer and/or parental substance use, certain psychiatric illnesses (eg, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, depression), and history of maltreatment. Co-occurring substance use and psychiatric illness have been associated with increased suicidality, but few prior studies have characterized substance use among child/adolescent inpatients. As such, it remains unclear how substance use contributing to acute psychiatric presentations has changed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the AUTHORS’ OWN WORDS, they relate the importance of their work:
“Given limited data on youth with acute psychiatric needs, the investigators sought to examine substance use in CA patients that were psychiatrically hospitalized. We aimed to determine if the COVID-19 pandemic led to an increased prevalence of positive urine drug screening (UDS) among the CA psychiatric population. The study also aimed to determine if certain sociodemographic or clinical factors increased the likelihood of having a positive UDS. Specific substances tested on routine UDS were examined, including cannabis, opiates, benzodiazepines, and stimulants. We sought to evaluate if any of these factors might independently predict substance use in this population, and, in addition, to examine outcomes, such as length of stay or need for emergency medications for agitation, in patients with positive UDS as compared to those without positive UDS. The study also aimed to compare previously reported substance use with current UDS results.”
“Multiple sociodemographic and psychiatric factors may predispose CA patients to substance use, which can have long-term negative, medical, and psychiatric effects. This study, despite some limitations, is unique in that it compares UDS results to previously reported substance use as well as examines the impact of COVID-19 on substance use among youths in the inpatient psychiatric setting. While our analyses found no impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on UDS results among inpatients, further and more long-term studies are needed. It is crucial to identify and address substance use in the CA population, to prevent future SUDs, improve mental health and psychiatric stability, and to minimize negative structural effects on the brain from substance use.”