Cross-Sectional Study of Epidemiological Determinants of Substance Abuse among Male Substance Abusers Attending a De-Addiction Centre in Bangalore City

BACKGROUND Substance abuse is a cause of deaths, global burden of disease and injury. Increasing trends of underage substance abuse have shown to be associated with future substance dependency. Understanding various factors associated with it will help mitigate the severity and extent of use. In this study, we wanted to find out the pattern of substance abuse in patients at a de-addiction centre in Bangalore. METHODS This cross-sectional study was conducted on 500 male patients admitted to a deaddiction centre in Bangalore. Information was collected using pre-tested and structured questionnaire forms and the collected data was analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) v 16.0 software. RESULTS The majority of the participants abused alcohol (92.4 %) and nicotine (74.2 %). 40.5 % of the participants initiated alcohol abuse in age groups of 12 – 18 (Years). Peer pressure (40.4 %) and curiosity (19 %) were observed as the most common reason for substance abuse. The common reason to seek de-addiction services was family pressure (22.4 %), physical health problems (14.2 %), family responsibility (12.4 %) fear of being a social outcast in the community (12 %) and psychiatric problems (10.6 %). Among the participants, 39.4 % had a family history of substance abuse and 41 % had a history of psychiatric illness. 47.4 % reported a history of child abuse. CONCLUSIONS Most participants initiated abuse before age of 25 mainly due to peer pressure. Proper enforcement of rules concerning under-aged substance abuse, proper peer and familial support, addressing concerns of psychiatric comorbidity and child abuse can decrease the chances of future dependency and thus lessen the burden of the problem. KEYWORDS De-Addiction Centre, Under-Aged Substance Abuse, Family History, Psychiatric Illness