Among patients admitted to an acute psychiatric ward willing and able to complete the interview, MINI was well accepted by patients and clinicians, and has moderately good test-retest reliability.

Psychosis induced by the use of amphetamine or methamphetamine leads to dramatic symptoms and frequent readmissions and poses diagnostic challenges. Earlier studies have often relied on history taking and/or urine samples to reveal drug use. The aim of this study was to compare the psychotic symptoms of two groups: (1) acutely admitted patients who tested positive for methamphetamines and were diagnosed with drug-induced or methamphetamine-induced psychoses and (2) acutely admitted patients who tested negative for methamphetamines and were diagnosed with schizophrenia. Blood and urine samples were used. In addition, we investigated whether the severity of symptoms, in those who tested positive, was related to the blood concentration of methamphetamine. Of 285 patients who volunteered blood and/or urine samples within 48h of admission, 37 (13%) had recently taken methamphetamine. Positive psychotic symptoms between the two groups were compared by PANSS using the positive subscale. The results showed no differences in positive psychotic symptoms between the two groups. The severity of positive psychotic symptoms in patients with three different levels of urine/blood methamphetamine concentrations, were compared. We found no clinically or statistically significant relationship between blood methamphetamine levels and severity of psychotic symptoms.

The aim of the study was to determine drug concentration ratios between oral fluid collected with the Intercept device and whole blood. Samples of blood and oral fluid were obtained from patients admitted to acute psychiatric treatment and drivers suspected of drugged driving. Samples were analyzed for illegal drugs, benzodiazepines, opioids, carisoprodol, and meprobamate. Drugs were detected in samples of both blood and oral fluid from 59 subjects; altogether, 17 different drugs were found. Concentration ratios between oral fluid and blood were determined for all cases. The distributions of drug concentration ratios were wide for most drugs and do not allow reliable estimations of drug concentrations in blood using concentrations in oral fluid. The median oral fluid/blood drug concentration ratios for the most prevalent drugs were 0.036 diazepam, 0.027 nordiazepam, 7.1 amphetamine, 2.9 methamphetamine, 5.4 codeine, 1.9 morphine, and 4.7 tetrahydrocannabinol. The correlation coefficients between drug concentrations in oral fluid and blood ranged from 0.15 to 0.96 for the six most prevalent drugs.

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