Frontiers in Psychology (Aug 2022)

A retrospective analysis of substance use among female psychiatric patients in Saudi Arabia

  • Abdulaziz A. Alodhayani,
  • Khalid M. Almutairi,
  • Jason M. Vinluan,
  • Wadi B. Alonazi,
  • Hatim Gormallah Alzahrani,
  • Mohammed Ali Batais,
  • Fatmah Mohammed Kaki,
  • Turky H. Almigbal,
  • Saad Alsaad

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.843785
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13

Abstract

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ObjectiveThis study investigated the prevalence of substance use (SU), and its risk factors, among women attending psychiatric outpatients center in Saudi Arabia.DesignA retrospective cross-sectional design.Materials and methodsWe reviewed outpatients’ records of 200 female patients with a history of SU from a psychiatric unit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from December 2018 to February 2019. The researchers developed the pro forma, and 2 psychiatrists and a family medicine physician validated the form.ResultsThe most common and widely used were psychoactive substances (58%), followed by central nervous system (CNS) depressants (22%), and finally cannabinols (9.5%). Overall, the highest substance use was the amphetamine-cannabis-nicotine (ACN) representing nearly half of the illicit items (46.6%), followed by heroine-alcohol-benzodiazepine (16.4%), and with the lowest being benzodiazepine-nicotine (1.7%). There was a significant difference between the single substance and multiple substance use in terms of age (p = 0.001), smoking behavior (p = 0.001), patients past history (p = 0.005), and age of the patient at the start of drug use (p = 0.005).ConclusionAlthough the prevalence of substance use among women is low in Saudi Arabia, screening of substance use disorders risks and building a rehabilitation program to control drug dependence are needed.

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