Retrospective Analysis of Sociodemographic Characteristics of Substance Abuse Patients Receiving Inpatient Treatment

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the socio-demographic data of the patients who attended the AMATEM clinic in 2019, but to evaluate them according to the forensic case situation, which is a gap in the literature, and to share it with the scientific world. Method: The medical records of 481 patients who underwent inpatient treatment at the AMATEM clinic of Kayseri State Hospital in 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. Sociodemographic characteristics, physical and psychiatric disorders, military service status, smoking and alcohol consumption, type of substance and consumption, and forensic case status of the patients were studied. The statistical evaluation of the data was recorded in a database prepared using the SPSS 23 program, with a confidence level of 95% and a statistical significance limit of p<0.05 for all analyses. Results: The mean age of the participants in our study was 32.12±10.25 years. It is observed that 54.9% of the participants (n=264) were married. It was found that 21.2% (n=102) of the participants had not served in the military, while 1.5% (n=7) were still soldiers. When the number of hospitalisations of the participants was examined, it was found that 88.4% (n=425) were hospitalised for the first time, 8.9% (n=43) for the second time, 1.5% (n=7) for the third time, 0.8% (n=4) for the fourth time, 0.2% (n=1) for the fifth time and 0.2% (n=1) for the seventh time. The mean length of hospital stay was 11.57±8.07 days, with a minimum of 0 days (same day discharge) and a maximum of 41 days. At the same time, a statistical significance was found between the number of substances use and methamphetamine use of the participants and the decriminalisation cases, while at the same time 15% of the participants (n=72) had never used substances (p=0.002, p=0.000 respectively). Conclusion: It is believed that the study will contribute to the cumulative knowledge due to the fact that there is a limited number of studies in the literature on the subject we are doing. The implementation of studies in this area, which is lacking, will be a guide both to the scientific world and to individuals working in the relevant field in the field.