RESUMO
BACKGROUND: The present study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of substance abuse among students of selected schools of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study among students in five schools of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2014. Data collection was conducted using a questionnaire which was designed by the researcher. Questionnaires were distributed among participants selected using stratified random sampling. A total of 422 questionnaires were filled and analyzed. FINDINGS: In total, 422 students aged 19 to 32 years participated in this study among which 233 were women (55.2%) and 187 were men (44.3%). The highest prevalence belonged to smoking (26.3%), alcohol (19.9%), and hookah (14.9%) use, respectively. The results showed that 311 participants (73.7%) had never smoked a cigarette, 111 (26.3%) had smoked at least once, and 84 students (19.9%) had consumed alcoholic drinks at least once in their lifetime. There was no meaningful difference in smoking and alcohol use in terms of students' gender. Mother's educational level (P = 0.006) and financial income (P = 0.049) had significant effect on alcohol consumption. CONCLUSION: In this study, it was found that gender differences have reduced in cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption as seen in western countries, which should be taken into consideration. The prevalence of alcohol consumption was found to be higher compared to other similar studies conducted in Iran which is significant.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Substance abuse or drug addiction is one of the most important health issues in every society, which can lead to physical and mental problems. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to compare the efficacy of tramadol plus gabapentin versus methadone use in the treatment of opiate withdrawal. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Consenting male subjects who fulfilled the DSM-4 criteria for opiate dependence syndrome (opium, residue, and heroin) were randomly assigned in two groups to receive tramadol plus gabapentin or methadone. Assessment tools were Adjective Rating Scale for Withdrawal (ARSW), Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale (COWS) and Visual Analogue craving Scale (VAS). Fifty-nine subjects were enrolled and evaluated on days 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 during their 10 days of admission. Twenty-nine participants received methadone and the other 30 received tramadol plus gabapentin for their treatment. RESULTS: Mean (SD) age of the patients in methadone group and tramadol plus gabapentin group were 33.9 (7.1) and 32.4. (8.1), respectively (P = 0.462). The overall ARSW (P value = 0.263) and COWS (P = 0.862) scores between the two groups were comparable. The differences in the VAS score for craving between the two groups was marginally significant (P = 0.057). The highest VAS score was at the third day of admission in both groups and it was generally higher in methadone group. CONCLUSIONS: The severity of withdrawal syndrome in two groups was not significantly different. The craving was higher in the group receiving methadone from the second day of admission even though the usage amount was higher in the tramadol plus gabapentin group. The findings of this study suggest that the combination of tramadol plus gabapentin is an efficient method for opioid detoxification.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Substance abuse is one of the main health problems in Iran andawareness about its spread and procedure of spread in the society,particularly the susceptible society of students, is very important withregard to the population pyramid of Iran. METHODS: This study was performed by cross-sectional method. The sampling sizewas 610 male students in pre-university grade by a probabilistic clustersampling. Our research instrument was the WHO questionnaire. FINDINGS: The experience of smoking cigarettes was seen in 34.6% of thestudents, 51.5% used hookah, 37.7% drank alcohol, 40.7% used nonprescribedtranquilizers, 10.2% used high-dosage painkillers, 6.6% usedecstasy, 6.7% hashish, 4.9% heroin, 8.7% opium and 9.7% used Pam orchewable tobacco. The first age of experiencing smoking cigarette was 14.0, hookah 13.9,alcohol 14.6, tranquilizers 13.1, high-dosage painkillers 15.3, ecstasy17.0, hashish 16.7, heroin 16.7, opium 16.7 and using chewable tobacco15.3 years. The improper use of ecstasy pills, opium, heroin andchewable tobacco was more in governmental schools compared withnon-profit school centers. There was a relationship between the low educational level of the fatherand consuming alcohol, strong intoxicants, heroin, opium, pam andexcessive use of cigarettes. On the other hand, there was a relationship between the low educationallevel of the mother with using cigarettes, hookah, alcohol, tranquilizers,strong painkillers, ecstasy, heroin, opium, pam and excessive usage of cigarettes. CONCLUSION: According to this study, in spite of the fact that drug abuse is at awarning rate, the tendency toward hookah, tranquilizers and alcohol is noticeable.
