Socio-Demographic and Clinical Profile of Substance Abusers Attending a Regional Psychiatric Hospital in Sylhet, Bangladesh

Abstract

This was a cross sectional and descriptive study. It was conducted in a private psychiatric hospital in Sylhet, Bangladesh; duration was one year from 01/04/2014 to 31/03/2015. Study populations are all substance abuser patients, admitted in that hospital that fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria. After consecutive sampling, 155 substance abuser patients were interviewed in a peaceful and non-threatening environment. Patients have been interviewed using questionnaire. Psychiatric disorders were assessed by using DSM-V criteria. This study revealed that, out of 155 patients, 101 (65.2%) was below age of 30 years. The mean age of the patients was 25.9 years (SD 7.61). Among all patients 147 (94.8) were male and 8 (5.2%) were female. Among all respondents 69.1% had history of initiation of abuse in between age of 11 to 20 years. Among them 34.2% patients had been suffering from medical disorders. 57.4% had been suffering from substance induced as well as co morbid psychiatric disorders. The commonest co morbid psychiatric disorders in our population were major depressive disorder (18.1%). Most of our cases came from urban localities (71.6%), which may be a reflection of the increase in urbanization in our country. The educational level of major portion of respondents was at least up to higher secondary level. It may be due to some sorts of increased facilities of education in Bangladesh now days as well as most of the patients came from solvent family.