This is the first study, to our knowledge, to examine the new onsets of alcohol use disorder (AUD) and drug use disorder (DUD) in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Consistent with previous findings (
5), we found that the prevalence rates of AUD and DUD in BPD at baseline was significantly higher than in OPD -- a result that was biased by the absence of the other cluster B disorder, antisocial personality disorder, that has even higher rates of SUD (
51,
52). This report notes, in addition, that the BPD patients showed a higher prevalence rate in alcohol and drug
dependence than the OPD patients, but not in alcohol and drug
abuse, suggesting that SUD in BPD patients is more severe than in OPDs. This conclusion is consistent with prior reports where severe substance use problems has been associated with BPD and ASPD more than with any other personality disorder (
53-
55).
The main finding that the rates of new onsets of AUD is more than two times higher and of DUD is more than three times higher in BPD than in OPD. This confirms that BPD patients have particularly high vulnerability for the development of SUDs over the course of time. Our finding that new onsets of SUD does not differ significantly between remitted and non-remitted BPD patients adds to the impression of shared etiological factors between BPD and SUD. This conclusion is consistent other studies which have shown that adolescents with a Cluster B personality disorder have an increased risk of SUD in adulthood (
56,
57), and that a higher BPD criterion count is associated with early-onset of SUD (
58).
Although these findings suggest that SUDs share underlying pathologies with BPD, (i.e., have a spectrum relationship), we could not rule out the possibility that other comorbid Axis I disorders -- most notably, mood disorders -- may have influenced the new onsets of SUD. However, the baseline comorbidity of major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder were only moderately higher for BPD than for OPD (
59,
60). Moreover, in other CLPS reports, we found that BPD patients fail to have higher rates of new onsets for MDD (
61), and they have only a slightly higher rates of new onsets of bipolar disorders than do CLPS patients with OPD (
60). It is also possible that these BPD patients with higher rates of new onsets of SUD are a BPD subgroup whose vulnerability reflects a higher level of impulsivity (
62) than other BPD patients. Use of neurobiological measures for impulsivity that could shed light on whether that mechanism is present could add to future studies. Because our samples was restricted to four personality disorders, we could not examine rates of new onsets of SUDs in other personality disorders, particularly ASPD. Furthermore our findings are limited by a lack of information as to which specific substances were used, no information of stressful life events during the follow-up period which could influence the onsets of SUD and because of the limited sample sizes for assessing the role of remission in later years. Each of these limitations identify important questions that future studies will need to answer.
These limitations notwithstanding, we think our results retain some significant clinical implications. Continued substance dependence is a formidable resistance to treatment of BPD and is associated with a poor outcome (
63-
65). Remission of SUD sometimes is followed by remission of BPD (
66). For these reasons from a clinical point of view we believe that when substance abuse is comorbid with BPD, it should become a priority in treatment planning (
1). Our finding that remitted BPD patients have a rate of new onsets of SUD as high as non-remitted patients points out the clinical importance of sustained attention to this risk. Clinicians should recognize that specific psychotherapeutic strategies have been developed to treat the interrelated symptoms of substance abuse and co-occurring personality disorders (
67,
68) and specifically for treating BPD patients with comorbid substance abuse (
69,
70).
This is the first examination of new onsets of alcohol use disorder and drug use disorder in BPD patients in a prospective longitudinal design with adequate sample size. It establishes that BPD patients -- even when remitted -- seem to have a higher vulnerability than patients with other personality disorders -- with the likely exception of ASPD -- for the development of a SUD. This conclusion is consistent with both the concept of a spectrum relationship and with the clinical wisdom that substance abuse is a particularly hazardous form of comorbidity for patients with BPD.