Association of Demographic Profile, Depression and Anxiety with Drug Abuse among Medical Students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21649/akemu.v31i3.5928Keywords:
DAST-20,, Drug Abuse, Medical studentsAbstract
Background: Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is a patterned use of a drug in which the user consumes the substance in amounts or with methods which are harmful to themselves or others, and is a form of substance related disorder. Drug abuse is a frequent public health issue globally. The pattern of substance abuse seen in young adults is generally followed by the medical students as well and warrants that strict surveillance is undertaken in order to prevent it further.
Objective: To determine the association of demographic profile, depression and anxiety with drug abuse in medical students of the different private and government Medical Universities of Lahore.
Methods: A total of 1500 students from different public and private institutes were enrolled after taking informed consent. Students from the institutions who were between the ages of 18 and 30 and enrolled in MBBS programs were included, regardless of gender. Non-probability consecutive sampling technique was used. DAST-20 scale was used for determining substance use disorder and the degree of involvement in drugs. A score of ≥6 out of 20 on DAST-20 was labeled to have substance use disorder. HADS was applied to assess depression and anxiety. All findings were noted
down on a predesigned performa and was subjected to statistical analysis using Statistical Package for Social Sciences.
Results: The results showed that the mean age (in years), DAST-20 score, depression score and anxiety score of the patients was 24.29±3.54, 5.67±4.76, 4.78±2.5 and 4.71±2.44 respectively. Drug abuse was present in 11.6% of medical students out of which 5.6% had intermediate involvement, 3.6% had substantial involvement and 2.4% had severe involvement. Depression was present in 12.8% and anxiety was present in 6.8% patients and there was a significant association between these symptoms and drug abuse (p=0.000).
Conclusion: Medical students have been frequently found to be involved in drug related activity and depression and anxiety have been identified as a main predisposing factor leading to abuse.
References
1. Majer M, Mužić R, Musil V, Štajduhar A, Jureša V. Trend of substance abuse among medical students at University of Zagreb from 2008/2009 to 2018/2019. Eur J Public Health. 2021;31(S3):164-782. Doi: https:// doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckab164.782.
2. Mirza AA, Baig M, Beyari GM, Halawani MA, Mirza
AA. Depression and anxiety among medical students: a brief overview. Adv Med Educ Pract. 2021; 12(2021): 393-8. Doi: https://doi.org/10.2147/AMEP.S302897.
3. Seo C, Di Carlo C, Dong SX, Fournier K, Haykal KA. Risk factors for suicidal ideation and suicide attempt among medical students: A meta-analysis. PloS one. 2021;16(12):e0261785. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/ journal. pone.0261785.
4. Jatau AI, Sha’aban A, Gulma KA, Shitu Z, Khalid GM, Isa A, et al. The burden of drug abuse in Nigeria: a scoping review of epidemiological studies and drug laws. Public health Rev. 2021;42:1603960. Doi: https:// doi.org/10.3389/phrs.2021.1603960.
5. Abhishek R, Balamurugan J. An Extensive Study on Drug Abuse among Medical and Paramedical Learners. Ymer. 2023;22(1):454-62. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10. 37896/ YMER22.01/36.
6. Gaume J, Carrard V, Berney S, Bourquin C, Berney A. Substance use and its association with mental health among Swiss medical students: A cross-sectional study. Int J Soc Psychiatry. 2024;70(4):808-17. Doi: 10. 1177/ 00207640241232321.
7. Molodynski A, Lewis T, Kadhum M, Farrell SM, Lemtiri Chelieh M, Falcão De Almeida T, et al. Cultural variations in wellbeing, burnout and substance use amongst medical students in twelve countries. Int Rev Psychiatry. 2021;33(1-2):37-42. Doi: https://doi.org/ 10.1080/09540261.2020.1738064.
8. Kilic R, Nasello JA, Melchior V, Triffaux JM. Academic burnout among medical students: respective importance of risk and protective factors. Public health. 2021; 198: 187-95.
9. Patterson ZR, Gabrys RL, Prowse RK, Abizaid AB, Hellemans KG, McQuaid RJ. The influence of COVID- 19 on stress, substance use, and mental health among postsecondary students. Emerg Adulthood. 2021; 9(5): 516-30.
Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/21676968211014080.
10. Atienza-Carbonell B, Guillén V, Irigoyen-Otiñano M, Balanzá-Martínez V. Screening of substance use and mental health problems among Spanish medical students: A multicenter study. J Affect Disord. 2022; 311:391-8. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2022.05.090.
11. Niranjjan R, Nancy S, Gayathri S, Arulvijayavani S. Mental health status and substance abuse among medical students in Karaikal, Puducherry, India. Bioinformation. 2024;20(3):292. Doi: https://doi.org/10.6026/97320
6300200292.
12. Molodynski A, Lewis T, Kadhum M, Farrell SM, Lemtiri Chelieh M, Falcão De Almeida T, et al. Cultural variations in wellbeing, burnout and substance use amongst medical students in twelve countries. Int Rev Psychiatry. 2021;33(1-2):37-42. doi: 10.1080/09540261. 2020. 1738064.
13. Karn M, Kandel D, Subedi N. Prevalence of substance abuse and its associated factors among medical students: a cross-sectional study. F1000Research. 2022;10:797. https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.54585.2
14. Nguyen TT, Sendall MC, Young RM, White KM. Binge drinking among male medical students in Viet Nam: a qualitative exploration of norms. J Ethn Subst Abuse. 2021;20(4):543-58. Doi: 10.1080/15332640.2019.
1670768.
15. Kosendiak A, Król M, Ściskalska M, Kepinska M. The changes in stress coping, alcohol use, cigarette smoking and physical activity during COVID-19 related lock- down in medical students in Poland. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021;19(1):302. Doi: https://doi.org/ 10.3390/ ijerph19010302.
16. Stellern J, Xiao KB, Grennell E, Sanches M, Gowin JL, Sloan ME. Emotion regulation in substance use disorders: A systematic review and meta‐analysis. Addic- tion. 2023;118(1):30-47. Doi: https://doi.org/10. 1111/ add.16001.
17. Sharma A, Shashidhar M, Maddali VL, Rajiv S, Shivanna M, Ramesh H. A study to assess the prevalence of sub- stance abuse and its impact among medical students in a medical college. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2023;10(11):4380–7. https://dx.doi.org/10. 18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20233482
18. Allen HK, Lilly F, Green KM, Zanjani F, Vincent KB, Arria AM. Graduate student burnout: substance use, mental health, and the moderating role of advisor satis- faction. Int J Ment Health Addict. 2022;20(2):1130-46. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-020-00431-9.
19. Pérez T, Pardo MC, Cabellos Y, Peressini M, Urena- Vacas I, Serrano DR, et al. Mental health and drug use in college students: Should we take action?. J Affect Disord. 2023;338:32-40. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/
j. jad. 2023.05.080.
20. Salisbury T, Chamanadjian C, Nguyen H. Substance Misuse Among Medical Students, Resident Physicians, and Fellow Physicians: A Review With Focus on the United States' Population. Cureus. 2024; 16(10): e72636. doi: 10.7759/cureus.72636.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Annals of King Edward Medical University
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This is an open-access journal and all the published articles / items are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. For comments publications@kemu.edu.pk