Rai Dheeraj, Gaete Jorge, Girotra Saket, Pal Hem Raj, Araya Ricardo
Academic Unit of Psychiatry, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
Natl Med J India. 2008 Mar-Apr;21(2):75-8.
Substance use among medical students could impact on the conduct, safety and efficiency of future doctors. Despite serious medicolegal, ethical and political ramifications, there is little research on the subject, especially from the Indian subcontinent. We aimed to explore the patterns of substance use among a sample of medical students from the Indian subcontinent.
An opportunistic, cross-sectional survey of medical students from 76 medical schools attending an inter-medical school festival. A brief self-reported questionnaire was used to identify current and lifetime use of tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, heroin and non-prescription drugs. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with illicit substance use.
Responses from 2135 medical students were analysed. Current alcohol and tobacco (chewable or smoked) use was reported by 7.1% and 6.1% of the respondents, respectively. Lifetime use of illicit substances was reported by 143 (6.7%) respondents. Use of illicit substances was strongly associated with use of tobacco, alcohol and non-prescription drugs.
This study provides a snapshot of the problem of substance use among medical students from the Indian subcontinent. The reported prevalence of alcohol and illicit substance use in our sample was lower, while tobacco use was similar, when compared with data from western studies. Further research is needed from the Indian subcontinent to study nationwide patterns of substance use among medical students, and to identify important determinants and reinforce protective factors. Strategies need to be developed for supporting students with a substance use problem.
医学生使用药物可能会影响未来医生的行为、安全和工作效率。尽管存在严重的法医学、伦理和政治影响，但关于这一主题的研究很少，尤其是来自印度次大陆的研究。我们旨在探讨印度次大陆医学生样本中的药物使用模式。
对参加校际医学节的76所医学院的医学生进行了一项机会性横断面调查。使用一份简短的自我报告问卷来确定当前和终生使用烟草、酒精、大麻、海洛因和非处方药的情况。多变量逻辑回归分析用于确定与非法药物使用相关的因素。
分析了2135名医学生的回复。分别有7.1%和6.1%的受访者报告了当前饮酒和使用烟草（咀嚼或吸烟）的情况。143名（6.7%）受访者报告了终生使用非法药物的情况。非法药物的使用与烟草、酒精和非处方药的使用密切相关。
本研究提供了印度次大陆医学生药物使用问题的一个概况。与西方研究数据相比，我们样本中报告的酒精和非法药物使用率较低，而烟草使用率相似。需要从印度次大陆开展进一步研究，以研究医学生全国范围内的药物使用模式，并确定重要的决定因素和强化保护因素。需要制定策略来支持有药物使用问题的学生。
