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Prevalence and patterns of methamphetamine use and mental health disparity in the United States

Nature Mental Health volume 2, pages 951–959 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Methamphetamine is a growing health problem, as is mental health illness. However, no studies have investigated the combinatory effects of both diseases or characterized national trends over a period of time greater than 10 years. We evaluated US trends in mental health disorder-related hospital admissions (MHD-HAs) and compared them with those with concurrent methamphetamine use (MHD-HA-MUs), comparing the demographic characteristics from 2008 to 2020. Our findings reveal a significant increase in MHD-HA-MUs, increasing 10.5-fold, compared with a 1.4-fold increase in MHD-HAs. We also found a 1.53 times higher adjusted prevalence ratio of MHD-HA-MUs compared with MHD-HAs, even when adjusted for confounding factors. MHD-HA-MUs increased significantly among male patients (13-fold), non-Hispanic Black patients (39-fold), those aged 41–64 years (16-fold), and the South (24-fold). Overall, the data suggest that there are synergistic effects with methamphetamine use and mental health disorder, highlighting this patient group’s unique needs, requiring distinct action.

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Fig. 1: Trends in demographics of hospital admissions due to mental health disorder without methamphetamine use.
Fig. 2: Trends in demographics of hospital admissions due to mental health disorder with concurrent methamphetamine use.
Fig. 3: Trend of adjusted PR of hospital admissions due to mental health disorder with concurrent methamphetamine use.

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Data availability

Data from the National Inpatient Sample (NIS), Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality collected between 2008 and 2020 were used to analyze the prevalence and trend of hospital admissions following mental health disorders. The data are publicly available at https://hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/nation/nis/nisdbdocumentation.jsp.

Code availability

All statistical tests were conducted using the free and open-source software R (version 4.2.1) and are available from the corresponding author on request.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health grants R01HL145753, R01HL145753-01S1, and R01HL145753-03S1; LSUHSC-S CCDS Finish Line Award, COVID-19 Research Award, and LARC Research Award to M.S.B.; and Institutional Development Award (IDeA) from the National Institutes of General Medical Sciences of the NIH under grant numbers P20GM121307 and R01HL149264 to C.G.K.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Diensn G. Xing, Farhan Mohiuddin.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center at Shreveport, Shreveport, LA, USA

    Diensn G. Xing, Farhan Mohiuddin, Md. Ismail Hossain, Zaki Al-Yafeai, Abu Saleh Mosa Faisal, Steven A. Conrad & Mohammad Alfrad Nobel Bhuiyan

  2. Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center at Shreveport, Shreveport, LA, USA

    Md. Shenuarin Bhuiyan & Christopher G. Kevil

  3. Department of Pathology and Translational Pathobiology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center at Shreveport, Shreveport, LA, USA

    Md. Shenuarin Bhuiyan & Christopher G. Kevil

  4. Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Neuroscience, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center at Shreveport, Shreveport, LA, USA

    Nicholas E. Goeders, John A. Vanchiere & James C. Patterson

  5. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center at Shreveport, Shreveport, LA, USA

    Nicholas E. Goeders & James C. Patterson

  6. Louisiana Addiction Research Center, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center at Shreveport, Shreveport, LA, USA

    Nicholas E. Goeders, James C. Patterson & Mohammad Alfrad Nobel Bhuiyan

  7. Department of Pediatrics, LSU Health Sciences Center Shreveport, Shreveport, LA, USA

    Steven A. Conrad & John A. Vanchiere

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Contributions

M.A.N.B. conceptualized the idea; D.G.X. and F.M. wrote the manuscript; A.S.M.F. and M.I.H. performed the statistical analysis; and D.G.X., F.M., M.S.B., M.I.H., Z.A.-Y., A.S.M.F., N.E.G., S.A.C., J.A.V., J.C.P., C.G.K., and M.A.N.B. took part in the manuscript writing and editing.

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Correspondence to Mohammad Alfrad Nobel Bhuiyan.

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Nature Mental Health thanks Martin Paulus and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Xing, D.G., Mohiuddin, F., Bhuiyan, M.S. et al. Prevalence and patterns of methamphetamine use and mental health disparity in the United States. Nat. Mental Health 2, 951–959 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-024-00282-6

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