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

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

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.843785

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2022.843785

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Objective</title><p>This study investigated the prevalence of substance use (SU), and its risk factors, among women attending psychiatric outpatients center in Saudi Arabia.</p></sec><sec><title>Design</title><p>A retrospective cross-sectional design.</p></sec><sec><title>Materials and methods</title><p>We 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 <italic>pro forma</italic>, and 2 psychiatrists and a family medicine physician validated the form.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>The 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 (<italic>p</italic> = 0.001), smoking behavior (<italic>p</italic> = 0.001), patients past history (<italic>p</italic> = 0.005), and age of the patient at the start of drug use (<italic>p</italic> = 0.005).</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>Although 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.</p></sec>