Open AccessLaboratory Profile of Women Substance Users Seeking Treatment at Tertiary Care Centre in North India: A Retrospective Study
Author(s) -
Raka Jain,
Anjeet Verma
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of addiction research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2573-9514
DOI - 10.33140/jar.04.01.02
Subject(s) - urinalysis , cannabis , medicine , substance abuse , addiction , retrospective cohort study , psychological intervention , psychiatry , codeine , nicotine , urine , morphine
Background: Women substance use is on increase worldwide. In India, published research on women substanceusers is limited. There is a need for quantitative and qualitative research on effective interventions for women. Thepresent study aimed to assess the drug use pattern among women substance users based on urinalysis.Methodology: Retrospective review of laboratory records (2007-2018) was carried out for females seekingtreatment at an apex de-addiction centre of North India. Their drug use history and laboratory test results wereexamined. Descriptive statistics was applied using SPSS 22.0.Results: A total of 29,339 tests were performed for drugs of abuse. Among them 415 tests (1.41%) representedwomen substance users with a mean age of 33.82 (10.58) years. Female to male ratio was found to be 1:70.Majority was diagnosed for Opioid Dependence Syndrome (ODS) (56.9%) followed by Nicotine (8.92%), Cannabis(4.3%), Alcohol (3.38%), Benzodiazepines (3.13%), and Inhalant (0.7%) dependence. The positive urinalysis resultshowed 56.86%, 27.45%, 9.81%, and 1.96% positive for codeine, morphine, cannabis and cotinine respectively.Conclusion: Substance use disorders have been found to be fairly prevalent in women. Urinalysis plays a pivotalrole in the clinical management of patients in substance abuse treatment programs.