Doppia diagnosi e profili di gravità: un’indagine nella Casa Circondariale di Perugia Dual diagnosis and severity score: A study in the Prison of Perugia

Introduction: Dual diagnosis is a common condition in prisons and has got a relapse on the course and on the outcome of the treatment. The study values the prevalence of dual diagnosis among detainees in the Prison of Perugia and the severity ratings associated. Materials and methods: Addiction Severity Index-X (ASI-X) and Structured Clinical Interview (SCID-I) were administered to 245 newly detainees, seven days after their admission, from August to December 2005. As for statistical analysis, we used t-test for continuous variables and Mann-Whitney U-test for non parametric variables in order to compare the averages, χ 2-test to analyze categorial variables and the Fisher's exact test to estimate the odds ratios. Results: Twenty of the 100 detainees that gave consensus to the study had comorbid substance use and psychiatric disorders. Comparing the averages of the ASI-X's composite scores we found significant differences (p < 0.01) mainly for the areas psychiatric problems, drugs and alcohol between dual diagnosis detainees and no dual diagnosis prisoners. Conclusions: Severity ratings of the areas that are commonly compromised in subjects with substance use disorders and/or psychiatric disorders are significantly worse in detainees with dual diagnosis, mainly in reference to anxious-depressive symptomatology, difficulty to control aggressive behaviours, drugs prescription and suicide attempts.