A new study at the Ho Teaching Hospital (HTH) has revealed that alcohol use disorders are the leading cause of mental health admission at the facility, followed by schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder.
The study, titled "Burden of Mental Health Conditions at Ho Teaching Hospital in the Volta Region of Ghana: Analysis of Admitted Cases from 2021 to 2025", was conducted by Sorengmem Amos Ziema and colleagues from the HTH, aimed at raising awareness and informing decision-making by key stakeholders, underscoring the growing public health concern of mental health conditions locally and globally.
Mr Ziem, who did a poster presentation of the study at the Seventh African Epidemiology Society and first Ghana Epidemiology Society Conference in Accra, said the research analysed secondary data from the Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS) for all inpatients admitted with mental health conditions (MHCs) between January 2021 and September 2025.
Data
Out of a total of 56,990 inpatients seen at the hospital within the five years, 1,047, representing 1.8 per cent, were admitted with MHCs.
The admissions were 192 in 2021, 236 in 2022, 208 in 2024 and 185 from January to September 2025.
The study found that the mental health conditions affected more males than females. From the statistics, 628 patients were males while 419 were females.
Most of the patients were also in their productive years - the mean age was 40 years, with a median of 37 years.
Those aged 20 to 49 years accounted for about two-thirds of all cases, with those aged 30 to 39 years being the highest group.
Again, 975 people from the data, representing 93.1 per cent, were residents of the Volta Region, with a few cases from the Oti, Eastern and Greater Accra Regions. About 67.6 per cent were insured under the National Health Insurance Scheme, while 32.4 per cent were not insured.
From the data, 257 cases were recorded under alcohol use disorders, 213 cases of schizophrenia and 174 cases of bipolar affective disorder.
Others were 62 cases of schizoaffective disorders, 53 cases of multiple substance disorders, 50 cases of delirium (non-alcoholic), 42 cases of vascular dementia, 28 cases of depressive episodes, 23 cases of cannabis use disorders, 21 cases of opioid use disorders and 19 cases of other anxiety disorders.
Early referral
Mr Ziem said though the focus was on mental health, the study also found out that some cases had co-morbidities, which might have worsened their conditions.
The research team recommended that health professionals at the HTH and other health facilities should continuously sensitise the public to mental health conditions, especially at the community level, advocating early health-seeking behaviour.
The team further urged health professionals at primary health facilities to refer patients with mental health conditions early to tertiary facilities for early and appropriate treatment and management. - GNA
