Prevalence of drug use, alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking and measure of socioeconomic-related inequalities of drug use among Iranian people: findings from a national survey

Authors

Mehdi Moradinazar,1 Farid Najafi,1 Farzad Jalilian,2 Yahya Pasdar,1 Behrooz Hamzeh,1 Ebraim Shakiba,2Mohammad Hajizadeh,3 Ali Akbar Haghdoost,4 Reza Malekzadeh,5 Hossein Poustchi,6 Marzeyeh Nasiri,7Hassan Okati-Aliabad,8 Majid Saeedi,9 Fariborz Mansour-Ghanaei,10 Sara Farhang,11 Ali Reza Safarpour,12Najmeh Maharlouei,13 Mojtaba Farjam,14 Saeed Amini,15 Mahin Amini,1 Ali Mohammadi,1 and Mehdi Mirzaei-Alavijeh

1Research Center for Environmental Determinants of Health (RCEDH), Health Institute, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran
2Social Development and Health Promotion Research Center, Health Institute, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran
3School of Health Administration, Faculty of Health, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada
4Modeling in Health Research Center, Institute for Future Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
5Digestive Diseases Research Center, Digestive Diseases Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
6Digestive Oncology Research Center, Digestive Diseases Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
7Modelling in health Research Center, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran
8Health Promotion Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran
9Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran
10Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases Research Center, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran
11Liver and gastrointestinal Diseases Research center, Tabriz University of Medical sciences, Tabriz, Iran
12Gastroenterohe Pathology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
13Health Policy Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
14Non-communicable diseases Research Center, Fasa University of Medical Sciences, Fasa, Iran
15Health Services Management, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran
Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy

Abstract

Background

Drug use can lead to several psychological, medical and social complications. The current study aimed to measure and decomposes socioeconomic–related inequalities in drug use among adults in Iran.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional study The PERSIAN Cohort is the largest and most important cohort among 18 distinct areas of Iran. This study was conducted on 130,570 adults 35 years and older. A structured questionnaire was applied to collect data. The concentration index (C) was used to quantify and decompose socioeconomic inequalities in drug use.

Results

The prevalence experience of drug use was 11.9%. The estimated C for drug use was − 0.021. The corresponding value of the C for women and men were − 0.171 and − 0.134, respectively. The negative values of the C suggest that drug use is more concentrated among the population with low socioeconomic status in Iran (p < 0.001). For women, socioeconomic status (SES) (26.37%), province residence (− 22.38%) and age (9.76%) had the most significant contribution to socioeconomic inequality in drug use, respectively. For men, SES (80.04%), smoking (32.04%) and alcohol consumption (− 12.37%) were the main contributors to socioeconomic inequality in drug use.

Conclusions

Our study indicated that drug use prevention programs in Iran should focus on socioeconomically disadvantaged population. Our finding could be useful for health policy maker to design and implement effective preventative programs to protect Iranian population against the drug use.

Keywords: Inequalities, Drug use, Socioeconomic status, Concentration index, Iran

How to Cite

Moradinazar M, Najafi F, Jalilian F, Pasdar Y, Hamzeh B, Shakiba E, Hajizadeh M, Haghdoost AA, Malekzadeh R, Poustchi H, Nasiri M, Okati-Aliabad H, Saeedi M, Mansour-Ghanaei F, Farhang S, Safarpour AR, Maharlouei N, Farjam M, Amini S, Amini M, Mohammadi A, Mirzaei-Alavijeh M. Prevalence of drug use, alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking and measure of socioeconomic-related inequalities of drug use among Iranian people: findings from a national survey. Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy. 2020 Jun 5;15(1):39. doi: 10.1186/s13011-020-00279-1. PMID: 32503660; PMCID: PMC7275311.

Metrics

Prevalence of drug use, alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking and measure of socioeconomic-related inequalities of drug use among Iranian people: findings from a national survey

Tags: Concentration Index, Drug use, Inequalities, Iran, Socioeconomic status