Cross-sectional study on drug use by pregnant women in four public hospitals in the municipality of Recife, subsidized by Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (assist)

Abstract

Introduction: Drug use is a major public health problem, altering the physicalmental state and behavior. In pregnant women, this use irreversibly compromises the integrity of the mother/fetus binomial. The hypothesis of this research was to detect, by ASSIST, if there was a high prevalence of drug addiction in lowand high-risk pregnant women, as well as possible protective factors for the nonconsumption of drugs. Objectives: To identify the prevalence of drug addiction, to assess the protective and risk factors related to use in pregnancy through selfreporting by ASSIST. Methods: Cross-sectional study with casuistic selection, sample number of 160 pregnant women, applying ASSIST and selection for convenience of hospitals. Inferential analysis of the dependent variable (drug use) and the independent variables (age, education, and marital status) through logistic regression with a 5% significance level. Through multivariate logistic regression, the variables marital status, education and maternal age had statistical significance. Results: The total positivity of drug use was 86.9%, with a prevalence of 65% for tobacco, 81.9% alcohol, 16.9% marijuana, 4.4% cocaine/crack, and 12% hypnotics/sedative. Being married was a protective factor (p-value=0.0047 and OR=0.12) along with having a high school/technical course (p-value=0.041 and OR=0.11); maternal age >24 years old increased the use of drugs (p-value=0.035). Conclusions: A more effective assistance policy and adequate screening of pregnant women who use drugs is necessary due to a high maternal-fetal risk of clinical complications.

Keywords

• pregnant women
• streets drugs
• self-report