title: A study on drug abuse among the undergraduate medical students in Calcutta.
abstract: A study conducted during 1993 among undergraduate medical students in 2 medical colleges of Calcutta indicated that the prevalence of total and current drug abusers were 48.9% and 27.9% respectively of the respondent student population. The drug abuse rate gradually increased with advancement of each academic year i.e., from 24% in the first year to 74.4% in the final year, being maximum (84.5%) in the age group of 25-29 years. The prevalence among boys (58.4%) was significantly higher than that among girls (25.9%). Hostellers were found to be more drug users than non-hostellers. In the pattern of drug abuse, 12.6% of students used tobacco only and 3.6% alcohol only. Most commonly used combination was alcohol, tobacco and other drugs which constituted 12.7% of students.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Calcutta National Medical College.
authors.forename: N N
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Naskar
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Bhattacharya
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003906:Developing Countries; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*