Prevalence and Causes of Substance Abuse Among Undergraduate Medical College Students.

Increasing substance abuse and its impact on physical and psychosocial health is a worldwide public health concern. Adolescence is the period when initiation of these habits usually takes place. During adolescence students are more vulnerable due to increased academic pressure, peer group influence and increased popularity and availability of substances. Understanding the pattern and circumstances leading to substance abuse will help to go for appropriate interventions to protect the young adults from substance abuse. Aims and Objectives: To find out the prevalence and causes of substance abuse among undergraduate students of three medical colleges of Bhubaneswar. Materials and methods: All the undergraduate students of the three colleges present on the day of survey (1188) were included in the study; data was collected using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. Compilation and analysis of data was done subsequently using proportion and chi square test as statistical test. Results: Prevalence of substance abuse was found to be 45.87% with a male (74.03%). Predominance. Cigarette (72%) was found to be the most common substance of abused followed by alcohol (68%), gutkha (24%) and drugs (23%) Staying in hostel, non-satisfactory intra- familial relationship favoured substance abuse. Curiosity about the substance, academic and peer pressure, family problems were the major initiating factors. Conclusion: Continuing use of these substances in spite of knowledge of hazards associated with them reflected lack of health consciousness and need of proper health education .So, proper counselling with well planned policies should be implemented to root out the evil of substance abuse among the future doctors which will help in providing better health care services to the people.

Personality Psychopathology in HIV Infected Patients.

Introduction: Given the magnitude of the problem and the multiple physical and psychological stressors that persons with HIV face in India, a study was planned to assess magnitude of substance abuse, and extent of personality psychopathology in HIV positive patients attending A.R.T. clinic at P.B.M. Hospital, Bikaner (Raj.). Aims: To assess and identify the extent of personality psychopathology in HIV patients Material and Method: 50 new seropositive patients without any severe medical illness, CD4 count above 350 and not on Antiretroviral Therapy were selected for study from ART Centre, PBM Hospital, Bikaner during 1 January 2010 to 31st December 2010. Personality psychopathology was assessed in study subjects for inter group comparison on various parameters like drug abuse, sex, etc., and other socio–demographic data on a self designed Performa and International Personality Disorder Examination (IPDE). Data were analyzed using appropriate statistical methods. Results: 77 % [14 out of 18] male HIV positive patients with substance abuse had disorder level of personality psychopathology, compared to 36% [4 out of 11] male HIV positive patients without substance abuse. 17 female patients out of 21 had only trait level of personality psychopathology. Conclusion: Majority of patients with substance abuse had co-morbid personality disorder and therefore it suggests that HIV infection may be consequent to basic personality problem.

An Epidemiological Survey of Alcohol and Drug Dependence in a Village of district Sangrur, Punjab.

Background: Drug abuse has become a curse affecting almost every country though the extent and characteristics vary in different countries. The non medical use of habit forming drugs is not a new phenomenon. About 190 million people all over the world consume one drug or the other. Drug addiction causes immense human distress and illegal production and distribution of drugs have spawned crime and violence worldwide. According to world drug report, 2009 there were 25,71,52582 alcohol users, 8,22,88826 alcohol dependents, 82,28,883 cannabis users and 2,057,221 opiate users in India. Material and method: This Study was conducted in the Village Chhajli in District Sangrur of Punjab having a population of 10939 and having 2124 houses, from 15th February to 30th March 2009. Houses were marked randomly. Udai-Pareek scale,, Detailed drug abuse Schedule, 22 question Michigan Addiction Screening Test and 20 question drug addiction screening Test by Harvey was used n interview., ICD-10 criteria was applied to make diagnosis of substance dependence. The data collected was statistically analyzed. Results: Prevalence of substance abuse in this rural population was 39.3% out of which single substance abuse was 32.1%, two substances 4.9%, three substance 1.3% and four substances 1% of the surveyed population. 17.9% of population were single substance dependent while 3.7% of population was two substance dependent. 0.4% and 0.6% of the population were dependent on three and four substances respectively. Average age of onset of substance abuse was during the age 15-24 years. Maximal substance abuse was seen in illiterate patients. Socio-economic status was also a determinant of the type of substance abused with lower classes showed a preference for alcohol and tobacco, while opium was favored by the higher classes. Duration of use was 6-10 years for both alcohol and opioids. Conclusion: As a lot of development and changes have occurred in last two decades in terms of newer substances and newer routes of consumption, the findings of old studies may not be of much relevance in the present scenario. Hence the present study was carried out to assess the prevalence and pattern of alcohol and drug dependence in rural areas of Punjab.

Tobacco Use Among Drug Dependent Patients in Treatment Setting.

Tobacco use is widely prevalent in substance using patients in treatment settings. Nearly three times as many individuals with alcohol and drug problems smoke cigarettes compared to the general population. In addition to addressing the primary drug of abuse, it is important to systematically assess characteristics and patterns of tobacco use and treat tobacco dependence in these patients as they are at high risk of mortality from tobacco related illnesses..Consecutive patients presenting to the Tobacco Cessation Clinic of a national level deaddiction centre were assessed in detail using a semi-structured proforma. Most were males(97.3%) and majority (61.8%) of patients belonged to the 21-40 yrs age group. Most were self employed and primary drug of abuse was heroin in 47 (42.3%) and alcohol in 44 (39.6%) subjects. 53 (47.7%)used smoking tobacco only, 16 (14.7%) used only smokeless tobacco and 40 (36%) used a combination of both. Majority of smokable tobacco use was in the form of bidi (69.4%). Majority of the subjects (56.7%) were in the contemplation stage of change whereas 36 (32.7%) of subjects had taken steps towards quitting the use of tobacco products and qualified for the action stage as per RTCQ. The majority of patients qualified for moderate [56 (50.9%) dependence] to high dependence [37 (33.3%)] as per FTND score. This has obvious treatment implications.