Evaluation of drug abuse and cigarette smoking in patients with Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 disease in Kashan, Central of Iran

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Deprtment of addiDepartment of Addiction Studies, School of Medical, and Clinical Research Development ction - kashhan

2 Student Research Committee, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran

3 Clinical Research Development Unit of Kashan Shahid Beheshti hospital, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran

4 Department of Psychology, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran

5 Research Center of Addiction and Behavioral Sciences, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran

6 Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran

7 Department of Addiction Studies, School of Medicine, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: Coronavirus is one of the biggest health problems in the world. Research shows that smokers or addicts are more vulnerable to the virus. The present study was designed to evaluate the frequency of smoking and drug use among patients with Covid-19 and other patients.

Methods: In this research, 1400 participants (Kashan, Iran) were included (700 patients in Covid-19 group and 700 people in other patients' group). Then, the Addiction Diagnosis Questionnaire (ASSIST) was completed for the participants and their addiction was tested with a diagnostic kit.

Results: The prevalence of smoking and drug use in the Covid-19 group was 19.4% and 4.4%, respectively (23 and 9.2% in the group of other patients, respectively). No significant differences were observed between the two groups in terms of smoking frequency (P=0.229). The results showed that the frequency of drug users was significantly lower in the Covid-19 group (P=0.008).

Conclusion: The results of our study showed that the prevalence of smoking among patients with Covid-19 is not significantly different from other patients. Interestingly, the prevalence of drug use among participants with covid-19 was significantly lower than other patients. Since the number of smokers or drug users was expected to be higher among the patients with Covid-19, the cause of this paradox is unclear and more studies are needed to clarify its various dimensions.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Journal of Fundamentals of Mental Health

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 31 July 2023

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics