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A Retrospective Study of a Selected Population of Drug Dependent Subjects in Kuwait
Author(s) -
Saleh Suheil M.,
Demerdash Adel M.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
british journal of addiction to alcohol and other drugs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.424
H-Index - 193
eISSN - 1360-0443
pISSN - 0007-0890
DOI - 10.1111/j.1360-0443.1978.tb00126.x
Subject(s) - medicine , drug , population , lotion , psychiatry , environmental health , traditional medicine
Summary A group of first admission alcoholics and drug dependent Kuwaitis, subjects who attended Kuwait Psychiatric Hospital as in patients during 1961–1962 and 1971–1972 were examined. These were compared for prevalence, age, sex and social class. The number of alcoholics and drug dependents in the first group was 33 comprising 0.7% of the total number of patients, while those admitted during 1971–1972 formed 0.8%. No female patients were observed in the sample. The mean age of patients suffering from alcoholism or drug dependence in 1971–1972 was significantly higher than that of those examined in 1961–1962. Most patients in both groups came from occupational classes IV and VI. While the majority of the 1961–1962 group abused alcohol per se, a number of patients in the second group (1971–1972) were found to be addicted to alien beverages such as Vanilla Extract, Eau de Cologne, After Shave Lotion etc. Others used hypnotics per se or in combination with alcohol to ‘save alcohol’. These last observations could be directly attributed to prohibition.