Socio-Demographic Characteristics and Patterns of Substance Use Disorder in Oman: A retrospective study of the National Registry Surveillance Programme between 2004 and 2018.

Abstract

ObjectivesSubstance use disorder is a global challenge. Therefore, this study aimed to provide an updated view of socio-demographic characteristics and patterns of substance use in Oman.MethodsThis retrospective descriptive study was conducted between 2004 and 2018. Data were retrieved from Oman’s National Drug Addict Registry. The data collected included the socio-demographic characteristics of registered cases, the proportion of various psychoactive substances’ consumption and their routes of administration, the associated sociodemographic determinants as well as comorbid conditions.ResultsA total of 6,453 cases were registered during the study’s timeframe. The majority of which were Omani (97.9%), male (98.7%), single (57.9%), unemployed (50.2%), had an education level below university (81.0%) and were adolescents and young adults (77.0%). Opiates were the most common substance used (66.6%) and more than half of the sample were polydrug users (51.0%). Injecting-drug users constituted 53.4% of the total registered cases. The proportion of people with hepatitis virus C, hepatits virus B and HIV among the registered cases were 46.9%, 5.1% and 3.7%, respectively.ConclusionThe findings are in favour of rapidly escalating the introduction of a substance use preventive programme at all school levels as well as making opioid substitution therapy and other harm reduction programmes available in Oman.