Prevalence and socio-demographic causal factors associated with use of various psychoactive substances in patients seeking treatment from a deaddiction centre of a tertiary-care hospital in North India

Abstract

Background: Substance abuse is a quiet, slowly expanding epidemic in any community. We sought to analyze the patterns among substance users seeking treatment from the community. Aim was to determine the sociodemographic causal factors and prevalence of substance use of those seeking treatment in the deaddiction centre of tertiary care hospital for one year. Methods: 670 patients of all age groups with substance dependence enrolling for treatment during 1 year period for the first time in a deaddiction centre of a tertiary-care hospital in north India were retrospectively evaluated. Data was coded and analyzed using SPSS 20. Results: Male subjects (97.3%) were predominant; with substance use being most prevalent among 31-40 years (31.6%). 43.9% subjects were educated upto higher secondary level. Tobacco (76.4%), alcohol (73.9%), cannabis (30%), opium (13.3%), volatile solvents (5.1%), and sedatives-hypnotics (4%) were the most prevalent substances used. 5.8% subjects were actively injecting drugs and had multiple high-risk behaviors. One-tenth subjects were found positive out of 9.4% that were screened for human immunodeficiency virus. Co-morbid mental illnesses like bipolar disorder (6.11%), Schizophrenia (5.8%), depression (2.8%), and somatoform disorder (2.8%) & medical illnesses like Hypertension (12.1%) and alcoholic liver disease (4.32%) were also seen. History of previous treatment and prior hospitalization for deaddiction was present in 26.3% and 11.6% subjects respectively. Conclusions: Among the at-risk population in the community, the parameters and causal factors associated with psychoactive substance users presenting to a deaddiction centre in tertiary care, need to be prioritized.