Epidemiology of dependence on illicit substances, with a special focus on opioid dependence, in the State of Punjab, India: Results from two different yet complementary survey methods.

BACKGROUND: We used two different yet complementary methods to capture the 'hidden population' of illicit substance users in the state of Punjab, India: Rapid Assessment Survey (RAS) and Punjab Drug Use Monitoring Survey (P-DUMS). METHODOLOGY: For the RAS component, following a pilot study, Respondent Driven Sampling was used to recruit 6600 community-dwelling substance dependent persons aged 11-60 years from all the 22 districts of Punjab. Size was estimated using benchmark-multiplier method, and prevalence was calculated by projecting these data to the source population. For the P-DUMS component, data were collected on 7421 inpatients from 75 government de-addiction centres from 19 districts of Punjab. RESULTS: Subjects In both RAS and P-DUMS were primarily opioid dependent (88% in RAS and 83% in P-DUMS). Heroin (inhaled/injected) emerged as the commonest opioid in both RAS (46%) and P-DUMS (52%), though 30.5% of the RAS sample also used the prescription opioid tramadol. Using the benchmark-multiplier method, 0.27 million (2.5% of the source population) were estimated to be opioid dependent, of which nearly 78,000 (0.7% of the source population) were injecting opioid users (IDUs), predominantly heroin (62%) but also buprenorphine (32.5%). High-risk behaviour was reported by nearly 60% of IDUs. Only 14% of the RAS sample had ever visited any de-addiction centre, and only 2.8% individuals had been admitted to a de-addiction centre in the past year. CONCLUSION: There is a substantive problem of opioid dependence in this difficult-to-reach population of Punjab, with low treatment access. Misuse of prescription opioids along with IDU also raises concern.

Prevalence of sleep disorders and severity of insomnia in psychiatric outpatients attending a tertiary level mental health care facility in Punjab, India.

BACKGROUND: Sleep disorders are frequently associated with psychiatric disorders and can be both cause and effect of the same. AIM: To study the prevalence of sleep disorders and the severity of insomnia in psychiatric outpatients. METHODS: 500 patients were randomly selected using purposive sampling from patients attending a tertiary level mental health care facility were evaluated for the presence of any sleep disorder along with their sleep quality. In patients having insomnia, severity of the same was determined. RESULTS: 83.4% of the population had some type of sleep disorder. Symptoms of insomnia were reported by 78.2% of the population and 29.2% had moderate to severe insomnia. 78.4% of the population had poor sleep quality. Significant difference was noted among the different psychiatric groups when insomnia severity index (ISI) was compared. In multinomial logistic regression, chance of severe insomnia is more if the diagnosis is depression, but less if mania or ocd, compared to psychosis. CONCLUSION: This study was the first in India to assess the prevalence of sleep disorders in psychiatric outpatients. Our study underscores the importance of careful evaluation of sleep problems for proper management of the patients.