Substance Use and Mental Health Screening Within an Emergency Department-Based HIV Screening Program: Outcomes From 1 Year of Implementation.

Introduction: The emergency department (ED) may be an optimal setting to screen for substance use disorders (SUDs) and co-occurring psychiatric disorders (CODs). We report on the frequency of problematic substance use and comorbid elevated mental health symptoms detected during a 1-year implementation period of an ED-based SUD/COD screening approach within an established ED HIV screening program.

Methods: Patients (N = 1,924) were approached by dedicated HIV screening staff in an urban, Midwestern ED. Patients first completed measures assessing problematic alcohol (Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test-Concise [AUDIT-C]) and substance use across 10 categories of substances (National Institute on Drug Abuse-Modified Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Test [NIDA-Modified ASSIST]). Patients with positive alcohol and/or substance use screens completed measures assessing symptoms of depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 [PHQ-9]), anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 [GAD-7]), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (PTSD Checklist-Civilian [PCL-C]).

Results: Patients were predominantly male (60.3%) with a mean age of 38.1 years (SD = 13.0); most identified as White (50.8%) or Black (44.8%). A majority (58.5%) had a positive screen for problematic alcohol and/or other substance use. Of those with a positive substance use screen (n = 1,126), 47.0% had a positive screen on one or more of the mental health measures with 32.1% endorsing elevated depressive symptoms, 29.6% endorsing elevated PTSD-related symptoms, and 28.5% endorsing elevated anxiety symptoms.

Conclusions: Among those receiving ED HIV screening, a majority endorsed problematic alcohol and/or other substance use and co-occurring elevated mental health symptoms. Substance use and mental health screening programs that can be integrated within other ED preventive services may enhance the identification of individuals in need of further assessment, referral, or linkage to substance use treatment services.