Prevalence and Associated Factors of Illicit Drugs Use in Young Adults Aged 19 To 24 Years in a Public Sector University in Islamabad

Abstract

Pakistan is the 6th most populous country in the world. The literacy rate of Pakistan is 58% (approximate). The increasing prevalence of illicit drugs use in Pakistan and its versatile manifestations is taking a heavy toll on the health of the individuals, the society by and large and eventually on the quality-of-life index. It is estimated that about 44 tons of processed heroin is consumed annually in Pakistan. Moreover, 110 tons of heroin and morphine are trafficked from the neighboring country Afghanistan to the international market. Pakistan’s illegal drug trade is estimated to generate US $2 billion per annum. Determine the prevalence and associated factors of illicit drug use in a public sector university in Islamabad. This is a quantitative study in nature. The study design is cross sectional analytical. Quaid-i-Azam university was chosen using convenience sampling. For sampling, multistage cluster sampling technique was applied. Two faculties of the university were randomly chosen and then four departments from each faculty were randomly selected. Approximately 44 participants from each department, filled the questionnaire. The data was entered in excel and analyzed in SPSS version 26. First of all, frequency tables were generated for all the dependent and independent variables. A variable was computed to calculate the prevalence of any drug use. Cross tabulation tables were generated and further a chisquare test was applied to assess the association between the variables. An illicit drug is defined as any drug which is illegal to possess or use or any legal drug used in an illegal manner. The overall prevalence of any drug use was 58.5%. Alcohol was the most widely consumed illicit drug with a prevalence of 29.1%. Cannabis was the second most common illicit drug being abused (24.6%). The third most common illicitly consumed drug was Benzodiazepines (sleeping pills) with a prevalence of 12.4%. The prevalence of illicit drug use was higher in females, clinically depressed participants, participants who were younger, had a poor academic performance, higher financial burden, living separately and lower health vigilance.Prevalence of illicit drug use was lower in participants who were living with parents, married, participants with a higher degree of intrinsic religiosity, older age, better subjective health status and better health vigilance. This study identified certain factors as being protective from illicit drug use and certain other factors as risk factors for illicit drug use. The factors that are protective from illicit drug consumption are living with parents, intrinsic religiosity, bettersubjective health status, better health vigilance and older age. The risk factors include higher prevalence of clinical depression, living separately, young age, poor performance at studies, high financial burden and decreased health vigilance. Summing up all such students in universities of the country makes a huge pool of young adults which is causing destruction of the productive capacities and damages the social and economic face of the country.