Salud mental y consumo de sustancias psicoactivas en adolescentes colombianos

Introduction. An association between affective and anxiety disorders has been proposed in adolescents with substance use. Objective. To determine the prevalence of psychoactive substance use and the most frequent mental disorders associated with this consumption, in Colombian adolescents. Methods. This is a cross-sectional study that uses data from the National Mental Health Survey 2015. With adolescents between 12 and 17 years old, in whom CIDI-CAPI (version 21.1.3) was applied by computer and modified ASSIST. Results. A total of 408 adolescents between 12 and 17 years old who reported psychoactive substance use at least once in their lives were described , this group was a representative sample of national population. The most frequent consumed substance was alcohol with a prevalence of 16.6% (95% CI, 14.2-19.2), Bogotá is the region with the highest consumption of substances with a prevalence of 33.8% (IC95 % 24.7-44.2). Otherwise, being a man between 16 and 17 years old represents a risk factor for substance use. Likewise, presenting affective disorders increases by 2.28 times the risk of psychoactive substance use. Conclusions. Adolescents with affective or anxiety disorders are at higher risk of psychoactive substances use, making difficult the treatment and desmonstrating the vulnerability of this population.