Prevalence, Pattern and Correlates of Substance Use among Adolescents in a slum of Burdwan Municipality, West Bengal: A Community Based Study

Abstract

Objective: Substance use is a global public health concern including India. Adolescents being in critical and transformative period of life are more vulnerable. Residing in disadvantaged location of slums might increase the risk. In this context, present study was conducted to assess the prevalence, pattern and factors associated with substance use among adolescents in a slum area of Burdwan Municipality. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from September to November 2017 in the urban field practice area of Burdwan Medical College. The required sample of 144 adolescents (aged 10-19 years) were randomly selected from six slums of the study area in Burdwan Municipality. Adolescents were interviewed at the household level with pre-tested schedule. WHO recommended and validated ASSIST tool (version 3.1) was used for assessment of substance use and it's pattern. Substance users were categorized into High, Moderate and Low risk groups based on ASSIST guideline. Bivariate-multivariable logistic regression wereperformed for analysis. Results: The prevalence of substance use among adolescents was 31.25% (45/144).Common substances used were tobacco products (28.47%), alcoholic beverages (16.67%), cannabis (5.55%) etc. Among users of tobacco, alcohol and cannabis,7 (17.07%), 6 (25%) and 2 (25%) were found to be at high risk group respectively. Logistic regression revealed that gender [AOR=33.36], school dropout [AOR= 4.26] and presence of family problem [AOR= 4.48]were significantly associated with substance use. Conclusion: Prevalence of substance use was quite high among slum dwelling adolescents in the study area. Besides targeted interventions to address the issues, need of larger study is also warranted.