title: Drug dependence in adolescents 1978-2003: a clinical-based observation from North India.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the demographic and clinical profile of adolescent subjects (< or =18 yr) presenting to a state-funded drug de-addiction centre in north India.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data on demographic and clinical features were extracted from available case notes of adolescent patients who presented to the centre during 1978-2003 (n=85).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Many adolescents came from nuclear family (63.5%), of urban background (83.5%) and were school dropouts (54.1%). Mean age-at-first-use of the primary substance was 14.8 yr and mean age at first presentation was 17 yr. The commonest used primary class of substance was opioids (76.2%) and the commonest used opioid was heroin (36.5%). More than half of the subjects (54.2%) were also nicotine dependent at the time of presentation. The most common reason for starting the use of drugs was curiosity (78.8%). About one-fifth (21.2%) of the subjects indulged in high-risk behaviour such as having sexual intercourse with multiple sexual partners. Nearly half of the subjects had positive family history of either drug dependence (40.2%) or psychiatric disorder (5.5%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that the development of substance dependence in children and adolescents is a combination of familial and social vulnerability factors, including the drug culture of the social milieu.
authors.affiliation: Drug De-addiction and Treatment Centre, Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education &Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Baljeet Singh
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Saluja
authors.forename: Sandeep
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Grover
authors.forename: Anand S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Irpati
authors.forename: Surendra Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Mattoo
authors.forename: Debasish
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Basu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005106:Exploratory Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*