Cognitive factors related to drug abuse among a sample of Iranian male medical college students

Drug-use disorders in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: a glance at GBD 2019 findings

PURPOSE

The aim of this study is to investigate drug use disorders which are a major cause of Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR).

METHODS

This article is a part of the global burden of diseases (GBD), injuries, and risk factors 2019 study. The GBD modeling approach was used to estimate population-level prevalence of drug use disorders. We combined these estimates with disability weights to calculate years of life lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) for 1990-2019.

RESULTS

It is estimated that in 2019 in EMR around 3.4 million people have drug use disorder which has increased by 137% compared to 1990. Also, in 2019, DALY number for drug use disorders was 1217.9 (95% UI: 940.4, 1528.9) thousand years and 7645 (95% UI: 6793.7, 8567.9) deaths occurred. The DALY rate increased 39.6% in the region since1990, whereas the global rate increased by 24.4%. United Arab Emirates, Libya, and Iran were most affected by drug use disorders with the highest rates of age-standardized DALY in EMR in 2019. The most prevalent drug use disorder in the region is opioid use which is accountable for 80% of all drug use disorders DALYs.

CONCLUSION

Despite many interventions, drug use disorders are still responsible for high rates of DALY in the region which has increased since 1990 in both males and females; more comprehensive policies, better control measures and proper education could reduce the adverse effects.

Estimating the prevalence of high-risk behaviors using network scale-up method in medical university students

BACKGROUND

There is not much information about high-risk behaviors in young groups, especially students. This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of high-risk behaviors in students of universities of medical sciences in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran, by network scale-up (NSU) method.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This cross-sectional study was performed on 450 students from the universities of medical sciences. A researcher-developed checklist was used to collect the data. We considered number 16 for the social network size of students according to a previous study. Based on the response of individuals to each of the high-risk behaviors (including cigarette smoking, hookah use, opium consumption, alcohol drinking, tramadol/ecstasy taking, and extramarital sex) in their social network, the prevalence of these behaviors was estimated. The required calculations were performed using the NSU method. Furthermore, 95% uncertainty interval (UI) was calculated using the bootstrap method.

RESULTS

Totally, 196 (44%) participants were male. The mean age (standard deviation) of the participants was 22 ± 2 years. Results showed that hookah use (20% 95% UI [18.9-21.1]) and opium consumption (0.4% 95% UI [0.24-0.6]) had the highest and lowest frequencies, respectively. Cigarette smoking (17% 95% UI [15.8-18]), alcohol use (8.3% 95% UI [7.5-9.1]), extramarital sex (8.2% 95% UI [7.4-9]), and tramadol/ecstasy taking (4% 95% UI [6.4-4.6]) were the next most common high-risk behaviors, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Given that hookah use and cigarette smoking are the most common high-risk behaviors in students, especially males, appropriate cultural activities and educational programs should be employed by relevant authorities to reduce these behaviors.

Co-regulative effects of chitosan-fennel seed extract system on the hormonal and biochemical factors involved in the polycystic ovarian syndrome

There is a renewed interest in the application of chitosan-based drug delivery systems over the last few years. In this study, the ionic gelation method was used to prepare chitosan-engaged tripolyphosphate ions, as the cross-linking molecule, (Chit-TPP) and concurrent loading of the biomolecules of the ethanolic extract of fennel, Foeniculum vulgare, seed (FEC@NBC). The samples were characterized by SEM, DLS, TGA, FTIR, XRD, GC-MS, and zeta potential, and their effects on the related hormonal and biochemical factors of the rats with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) were assessed. The estradiol valerate-induced PCOS in female rats was confirmed by vaginal smear test and subsequent histological screening. The PCOS-induced rats were treated by fennel seed extract (FSX), Chit-TPP, and FEC@NBC. The process of treatment was monitored by measuring the serum levels of testosterone, luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, insulin, glucose, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, total cholesterol, and total triglyceride after 16 days of treatment and compared with healthy control and untreated PCOS-control groups. The FEC@NBC administration contributed to the remarkable hormonal, glucose, and lipid profile regulation in the rats with PCOS. The significance of FEC@NBC performance in dealing with PCOS complications compared to that of the only extract could be resulted from the effective targeted delivery and stability of phytomolecules when encapsulated in Chit-TPP.

Attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge of substance use amongst youth in the Eastern Mediterranean region: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

Substance use has a tremendous impact on the burden of disease. This is particularly true in the Eastern Mediterranean region (EMR), where many countries serve as suppliers of drugs. As risk perception and frequency of use are inversely correlated, targeting perception during adolescence becomes essential for prevention. In this study, we systematically reviewed the literature on attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge of substance use amongst youth in the EMR.

METHODS

We reviewed quantitative articles addressing attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge of youth aged between 13 and 25 years towards substance use in the EMR. We searched MEDLINE, PubMed, Cochrane, PsycInfo, and PsycArticles then applied a duplicate independent method for study selection and screening. Two reviewers completed data abstraction and a narrative summary of findings.

RESULTS

Our search generated 12,810 articles. Five cross-sectional studies were eligible (two analytic and three descriptive). The analytic studies described a significant correlation between intention to use and both attitudes and subjective norms. The descriptive studies portrayed a negative attitude towards use with a low threshold for considering it as serious. Beliefs pertaining to reasons for use included stress and sleeping, whereas thoughts on treatment were restricted to traditional methods based on personal resilience and religious support. Knowledge about substance use symptoms, withdrawal, and treatment was low.

CONCLUSION

Our review ascertains the role of sociocultural moral prohibition and awareness of mental health as major influencers in shaping the perception of substance use. Further research is needed to elaborate culturally-tailored survey tools.

Adolescent Illicit Drug Use and Policy Options in Australia: A Multicriteria Decision Analysis

The etiology of illicit substance involvement is a multidimensional problem shaped by factors across individual, social, and environmental domains. In this study, a multicriteria framework is employed to incorporate the input of specialists regarding risk and protective factors and the effectiveness of alternative interventions to mitigate the adverse harms and consequences associated with adolescent drug initiation and subsequent use. Using a seven-stage drug use continuum (nonuse, priming, initial use, experimental use, occasional use, regular use, and dysfunctional use), experts rate social and environmental factors as the most important from nonuse to occasional use. Experts often support preventive and harm-minimizing strategies to interrupt the progression of drug involvement and accumulation of drug-related harms among adolescents. Compared with preferable interventions, less preferable options (e.g., drug testing/monitoring) are considered to have a negative policy impact on key social, environmental, and drug dimension domains, which tend to override their positive impacts on other areas.

Psychometrics of the Instrument Measuring Beliefs Related to Drug Abuse among Iranian College Students

Background:

Researchers in the field of drug abuse need standard instruments in order to investigate the underlying factors behind the inclination to use drugs in different groups of society so that they could be able to design preventive interventions based on those instruments. The aim of this study is psychometrics of the questionnaire of the beliefs related to drug abuse among Iranian male medical college students.

Methods:

This cross-sectional study was done on 425 male students who were randomly selected to participate voluntarily in the study conducted in two medical universities in Iran. The studied constructs included attitude, outcome expectation, outcome expectancies, self-control and subjective norms. Data were analyzed by SPSS software (ver. 21.0) and Amos software (ver. 21.0).

Results:

All of the loads of the exploratory factorial analysis were larger than 0.4. The calculated Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) value was 0.906. Overall, five factors under investigation accounted for 61.15 per cent of the variance in the hypothesized model. Cronbach’s alpha for the measured constructs including attitude, outcome expectation, outcome expectancies, self-control and subjective norms were 0.92, 0.90, 0.91, 0.81 and 0.73, respectively.

Conclusion:

The investigated questionnaire is adequately reliable and valid for measurement of the constructs of attitude, outcome expectation, outcome expectancies, self-control and subjective norms for prediction of drug abuse among Iranian male medical college students.