TO STUDY THE PREVALENCE, AWARENESS OF HARMFUL EFFECTS AND REFERRAL OF ALCOHOL AND NICOTINE ABUSE IN MALE PATIENTS ADMITTED IN GENERAL MEDICAL WARD

Dr.V.P. Navaneethan; Dr.B.Kannan

Volume : VIII, Issue : XI, November - 2019

TO STUDY THE PREVALENCE, AWARENESS OF HARMFUL EFFECTS AND REFERRAL OF ALCOHOL AND NICOTINE ABUSE IN MALE PATIENTS ADMITTED IN GENERAL MEDICAL WARD

Dr. V. P. Navaneethan, Dr. B. Kannan

Abstract :

BACKGROUND: Alcohol and nicotine use is an important public health problem especially in developing countries like India. As most patients get admitted in general medical ward, we aimed at studying the prevalence of alcohol and nicotine abuse in them and also assessed the severity & awareness of alcohol and nicotine related problems and degree of motivation to quit. METHODS: 109 male patients selected, Semi structured proforma used to collect data regarding sociodemographic details, AUDIT, Leeds dependence questionnaire, Fagerstrom nicotine dependence scales were used to assess dependency and severity of alcohol and nicotine use. RESULTS: The prevalence of alcohol use was 39.45% and nicotine was 45.87% .The awareness related to harmful effects was known to 55.8% of alcohol and 60% of nicotine users. Only 20.9% of alcohol & 20% of nicotine users were either motivated to quit or referred to psychiatrist. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of alcohol and nicotine abuse is significantly high among inpatients of general medical ward. Even though majority of alcohol and nicotine users are aware of harmful effects only minority of them are referred to psychiatrist.