Medical Needs of Different Age Groups of Substance Dependent Subjects: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Background: There are several bio-psychological and social factors contributing to substance abuse. These factors could differ in different age groups. This study provides important information regarding different Psychosocial factors in different age groups contributing to substance abuse which would help in planning better psychosocial intervention fitting to specific age groups. Objective: This was cross-sectional study comparing socio-demographic characters among treatment seeking substance abuse patients to find out any correlates between substance abuse and sociodemographic factors across different age groups. Methods: All patients with SUD and without any comorbid physical or mental illness were included in the study. Patients were divided into three groups based on age group, each group consist of 30 participants and were applied DAST, SDS, CPC, SDS & AUDIT and applying using SPSS software. Results: In Young adult prevalence of Tobacco-93.3%, Alcohol-56.6%, Cannabis-20%, Opioid-20%, Benzodiazepine-6.6%, Polysubstance-83.3% in Middle ageprevalence of Tobacco-96%, Alcohol-76.6%, Cannabis-16.6%, Opioid-16.6%, Benzodiazepine-10%, Polysubstance-96.6% in Elderly age- prevalence of Tobacco-96%, Alcohol-23.6%, Benzodiazepine-6.6%, Polysubstance-23.3%. Discussion: Our study showed tobacco is most commonly used substance followed by alcohol followed by cannabis and other substances. Prevalence of alcohol and illicit drugs use decrease with increasing of age. Conclusion: The present study shows that the commonest substance of abuse is tobacco and this is also the gateway substance of abuse, so legal and awareness methods should be adopted to limit its abuse.