Article Psychoactive substance use in specialized psychiatric care patients Boris Karpov 1 , Grigori Joffe 1 , Kari Aaltonen 1 , Jaana Suvisaari 2 , Ilya Baryshnikov 1 , Maaria Koivisto 1 , Tarja Melartin 1 , Kirsi Suominen 3 , Petri N€ a€ at€ anen 1 , Martti Heikkinen 1 , Jorma Oksanen 1,2 , and Erkki Isomets€ a 1,2 Abstract Objective: Life expectancy of psychiatric patients is markedly shorter compared to the general population, likely partly due to smoking or misuse of other substances. We investigated prevalence and correlates of substance use among psychiatric patients. Methods: Within the Helsinki University Psychiatric Consortium Study, data were collected on substance use (alcohol, smoking, and illicit drugs) among patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (n ¼ 113), bipolar (n ¼ 99), or depressive disorder (n ¼ 188). Clinical diagnoses of substance use were recorded, and informa- tion on smoking, hazardous alcohol use, or misuse of other substances was obtained using questionnaires. Results: One-fourth (27.7%) of the patients had clinical diagnoses of substance use disorders. In addition, in the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, 43.1% had hazardous alcohol use and 38.4% were daily smokers. All substance use was more 1 Department of Psychiatry, HYKS sairaanhoitopiiri, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland 2 Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland 3 Department of Social Services and Health Care, Helsingin Kaupunki, Helsinki, Finland Corresponding Author: Boris Karpov, Department of Psychiatry, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland. Email: boris.a.karpov@gmail.com The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine 2017, Vol. 52(4–5–6) 399–415 ! The Author(s) 2017 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0091217417738937 journals.sagepub.com/home/ijp