Unemployment and the rate of psychoactive-substance-related psychiatric hospital admission in regional Queensland: An observational, longitudinal study.

Objectives: To examine the relationship between a regional economic downturn (indicated by the rise of population unemployment rate) and the rate of psychoactive-substance-induced psychiatric hospital admissions in the population in a rural/regional setting.

Methods: Hospital admission records from January 2013 to December 2016 were reviewed retrospectively. All patients with admissions to the Mackay inpatient psychiatric unit with diagnosis of mental and behavioural disorders due to psychoactive substance use were recorded using (ICD-10) F10-F19 codes.