Profile of Women Seeking Treatment for Substance Use Disorder in Tertiary Care Government De-Addiction Centre

There is an increasing trend among women using substance. However, very few women seek treatment for substance use disorder in Government de-addiction centre. There is limited literature available regarding the same.

To examine the profile of women seeking treatment for substance use disorder in Government De-addiction Centre, Bengaluru.

The study was retrospective in nature. All the female patients who sought in-patient treatment from centre for addiction medicine, NIMHANS, Bengaluru from Apr 2015- Sept 2016 were included in the study. Method of data collection: Content analysis was used to collect the secondary data from the hospital record. Descriptive statistics such as mean, frequency distribution was used for statistical analysis.

Mean age of women who sought treatment for substance use disorder in the centre was 42 ±14 years. The mean age at initiation of alcohol was 27 ±9 years, alcohol dependence was 34 ±10.6 years. Majority (65%) belonged below poverty line. 59% were married and living with their spouse. 55% of them sought treatment either on their own or brought by family members, 38% referred by the psychiatrist. More than one-third (36%) had primary school education. Nearly one-third (27%) of them had repeated admissions more than once. More than one-third of them (34%) were homemakers, nearly one-fourth (24%) of them were lost their previous job, 6% of them students and professionals respectively.

The majority (68%) of women had diagnosis of alcohol dependence, nicotine (44%), benzodiazepine (14%), opioid dependence (11%), cannabis dependence (1.6%), less than 1% had other forms behavioural addictions.