The importance of investigating alcohol use among people with schizophrenia

Alcohol use among people with schizophrenia is very common. The 2010 Australian Survey of High Impact Psychosis (SHIP study, n = 1,812 people with schizophrenia spectrum or bipolar disorders) demonstrated over half (58.7%) of men and over a third of women (38.2%) with psychoses have a lifetime alcohol use disorder, representing a doubling in the last decade. Among this population, alcohol use has been linked to a range of adverse consequences including unemployment, lower education level, lower socio-economic status and exacerbation of psychiatric symptoms. The adverse consequences associated with co-occurring alcohol use and schizophrenia also extend to the wider community as this population tend to have greater use of expensive services such as emergency medical care and psychiatric hospitalization.