ASSOCIATION OF HIV WITH DRUG DEPENDENCE;

Objective: This study was undertaken with an objective of collecting basic data to assess the extent and variety of drug abuse in patients presenting to the model drug abuse and treatment center, DHQ hospital, Fsd as per social and demographic circumstances. Study design: cross sectional study. Place and duration of study: The study was conducted in the indoor Department of Model Drug Abuse Treatment Center of Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, DHQ Hospital, Faisalabad from Jan-2014 to March-2014. Method: 80 patients dependent on different drugs participated in this study through purposive convenient sampling technique. Personal, Social, and Demographic variables were recorded on a demographic sheet. The results were obtained by using SPSS 17. Results: Descriptive statistics showed that 31 patients (38.8%) were HIV positive. Most of the patients were males (97.5 %), between 30 to 35 years of age (28.8%), married (61.3%), lived in urban areas (55%), illiterate (32.5%), had primary level education (21.3%), or middle level education (22.5%). 51.3 % patients were laborers. Conclusions: As illiteracy, low education, unemployment, labor as profession, and peer pressure are the key features of drug abusers. So, parents, health professionals, and state personals should take these as risk factors and focus upon these population segments to spread awareness and take measures of control to minimize the incidence of substance abuse.