RESUMEN
Background: Substance abuse disorder is among the leading public health problems in modern day world as they cause enormous human suffering in terms of morbidity, mortality and economic loss; and threatens the very social fabric of almost all communities around the world and as such is a great threat to the global health, economy and peace. Like most social behaviours the etiology of substance abuse is complex, varying through time, geographical regions and by demographic characteristics. Among young people, students are the most vulnerable group as the initiation into substance abuse first starts during this period. Aims & Objective: To find out the prevalence and pattern of substance abuse and its association with various sociocultural and demographic variables. Material and Methods: Multi-stage random sampling method was adopted to select the study subjects. The study subjects were asked about the substance abuse and related socio-demographic variables by means of WHO model core questionnaire format and results were subjected to statistical analysis. Results: The overall life-time prevalence of for substance abuse among college students was found to be 31.3%. Male students had significantly higher prevalence of substance abuse as compared to female counterparts(37.5% versus 19.6% respectively).The most common substance being abused was Tobacco products(22.5%) followed by solvents (10.0%), alcohol (6.2%), sedatives (5.9%), cannabis (4.4%), amphetamine products (2.1%), hallucinogens (0.5%) and cocaine (0.3%). Age, gender and family type were found to be strongly associated with substance abuse (p<0.001). Conclusion: Prevalence of substance abuse among college students is high and causes significant problems in this population; therefore there is necessity of targeted interventions to reduce this huge burden.
RESUMEN
Background: Population ageing is a recognized international reality, both in developed and developing countries. The number of elderly in the developing world is increasing due to demographic transition, whereas their condition is deteriorating as a result of fast eroding traditional family system coupled with rapid modernization and urbanization. Current statistics for the elderly gives a prelude to a new set of medical, social and economic problems that could arise if a timely initiative in this direction is not taken. Aims & Objective: To determine the pattern of physical morbidity in rural elderly population and to study health related quality of life and utilization of health services among them. Material and Methods: A community based cross-sectional design was adopted for studying the health problems of elderly and their health related quality of life, using WHO Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire. Simple random sampling technique was used for sample collection. A total of 660 individual ≥ 60 years of age were taken up for the study purpose. Results: An overwhelming majority (68.2%) of elderly enjoyed a good quality of life, while those having a fair/poor quality of life were ≤ 15%. Quality of life was better in males in physical, psychological, social and environmental domains. It was more in subjects who had graduated and currently married, belonged to non-scheduled cast and living in extended families (p<0.001). Majority of the subjects were anaemic (64.5%), suffering from dental problems (62.2%) and joint pains (51.4%). Maximum numbers of subjects (92.7%) were utilizing non-government health care facility due to long distance from their houses (33.3%). Conclusion: There is a need to highlight the medical and psychosocial problems that are being faced by the elderly people in India and strategies for bringing about an improvement in their quality of life.