Prevalence of substance abuse among regular degree health science students in Sheba University College in Mekelle Town, Tigray - Ethiopia.
BACKGROUND
Substance abuse (SA) refers to the harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs. The most common substances which are usually abused are alcohol and tobacco. Herein, we assessed the prevalence of SA among regular degree health science students of the Sheba University College (SUC).


METHODS
A cross-sectional survey was carried out among 1076 SUC students using self-administered structured questionnaire. The simple sampling technique was used to select students. Descriptive statistics, bivariate, and multivariate analysis were done.


RESULTS
The overall prevalence of "ever used substance" for at least one was 45.5%. The most commonly used drugs in descending order were alcohol (25.1%), cigarette (11.4%), and khat (9.2%). Male participants, urban setting, peer pressure, personal pleasure, and academic dissatisfaction and pocket money were highly associated with SA.


CONCLUSIONS
This study showed a lower magnitude (45.6% ever use and 21% still using) of SA among students' compared to other studies. Even if a considerable decrease in SA among study subjects, the creation of awareness and health education should be continued to fully combat the problem of abuse.
Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Sheba University College, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
Esietu Gebregazabher
EG
Hagos
Department of Biochemistry, College of Health Sciences, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
Gebrekidan Gebregzabher
GG
Asfeha
Department of Anatomy and Histology, College of Health Sciences, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
Birhane Alem
BA
Berihu
Academic dissatisfaction; psychoactive substances; sociodemographic characteristics; substance abuse