Abstract
BackgroundSubstance use has a terrible impact on health, behavior and country’s economy because the number of people particularly the youngsters being involved in this practice is increasing rapidly. However, the prevalence, determinants and consequence of substance use in the study area has been overlooked.MethodsA descriptive quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted among 254 health science students of Haramaya University. The respondents were selected randomly after double stratification based on their department and batch respectively. A pre-tested self–administrable anonymous questionnaire was used. The collected data were entered into epidata version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 23. Descriptive statistical analysis was done to examine findings. Besides, chi-square (X2) test was considered to examine the nonparametric association of factors with ever substance use.ResultsPrevalence of ever substance use for at least one substance was found to be 114(45.4%). Ever khat chewers take the highest percentage [107(93.9%)] followed by ever smokers 45(39.5%) and ever drinkers 44(38.6%). Among these ever substance users, 80(70.2%) were found to be current substance users. Being a preparatory student (26.3%) and freshman at university (57.9%) were critical times to initiate substance use. Sex, monthly income, sexual risk behavior and family history of substance use were found to be significantly associated with being ever substance user as witnessed by their respective X2 values of 19.67, 72.28, 28.99 and 139.72 at P-value = 0.05 and degree of freedom (df = 1). From the overall ever substance users, 31.6% had undesirable health consequences. Among these consequences, anorexia [40 (35.1%)] accounted for the highest percentage followed by insomnia [29 (25.4%)], depression [25 (22%)], gastritis [25 (22%)], dental caries [23 (20.2%)] and increased sexual activity [12 (10.5%)].ConclusionPrevalence of ever substance use in the study area was relatively high. Therefore attention should be given to the major reasons for substance use mainly orientation of freshman students about better stress coping mechanisms and expansion of adequate recreational activities.
Highlights
Substance use has a terrible impact on health, behavior and country’s economy because the number of people the youngsters being involved in this practice is increasing rapidly
According to the world health organization (WHO) estimation, approximately 47% of men and 12% of women smoke cigarette worldwide in 2010.The WHO regards smoking as pandemic while attributing more than 4 million deaths in a year to tobacco and it is expected that this figure will rise to 10 million deaths by the year 2020
Some studies have indicated that substance use resulted in psychological stress, suicidal attempts, functional impairment, physical ill health, and risk-taking behavior [8–10, 24–27].Substance use is influenced by different factors, for example, a cross-sectional study held at Harar town, Eastern Ethiopia, revealed that the use of khat was significantly associated with age, gender, Muslim religion, peer influence, and habit of family and other relatives among students [4, 5]
Summary
Substance use has a terrible impact on health, behavior and country’s economy because the number of people the youngsters being involved in this practice is increasing rapidly. Cigarette smoking has been considered as “an entry point” towards forbidden drug use among adolescents [9].Globally, 9% of the major noncommunicable diseases and 71% of lung cancer deaths are attributed to tobacco alone. These major noncommunicable diseases include atherosclerotic heart disease, myocardial infarction, heart failure, malignancy and diabetic mellitus that have paramount association and causal linkage with oral consumption of tobacco. Some studies have indicated that substance use resulted in psychological stress, suicidal attempts, functional impairment, physical ill health, and risk-taking behavior [8–10, 24–27].Substance use is influenced by different factors, for example, a cross-sectional study held at Harar town, Eastern Ethiopia, revealed that the use of khat was significantly associated with age, gender, Muslim religion, peer influence, and habit of family and other relatives among students [4, 5]. This study will help to show public health importance of the problem in response to the different preventive and therapeutic measures that have been taken into action since 2015
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