research proposal on drug addiction in pakistan

Rising trend of substance abuse in Pakistan: a study of sociodemographic profiles of patients admitted to rehabilitation centres

Affiliation.

• 1 Department of Biosciences, COMSATS, Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan. Electronic address: [email protected].
• PMID: 30616031
• DOI: 10.1016/j.puhe.2018.10.020

Objectives: In Pakistan, the prevalence of drug addiction is increasing at an alarming rate. However, the risk factors, which are increasing vulnerability towards addiction, remain largely elusive. The major objective of this investigation was to study the sociodemographic variables common in addicted patients in order to identify vulnerable cohorts and risk factors, which increase predisposition towards substance abuse.

Study design: This is a multi-site cross-sectional survey-based study.

Methods: In this study, 102 male addicted patients admitted to drug rehabilitation centres of the Islamabad/Rawalpindi and fulfilling Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, criteria for dependence, were interviewed with the help of a structured questionnaire.

Results: A total of 102 male patients participated in the survey. Participants mean age was 28.4 years (±9.8), whereas 14% were aged between 15 and 20 years. A large number of respondents (35%) initiated drug abuse in the teenage years. Majority of the subjects were skilled (60%) and had secondary education (47%), whereas 8% of the patients were students. Heroin was the most abused substance (48%) followed by cannabis (28%). The mean duration of substance abuse was between 1 and 5 years, whereas a significant fraction of subjects (8%) had more than 16 years of duration of abuse. Family disputes and peer pressure were the most common reasons for initiation of substance abuse. A significant fraction of patients (46%) reported to suffer from comorbid depression.

Conclusions: The growing trend of abuse in highly addictive substances such as heroin in teenagers and in the skilled and educated stratum of society is of great concern and demands immediate preventive measures from the policymakers.

Keywords: Epidemiology; Heroin; Pakistan; Substance abuse.

Copyright © 2018 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Publication types

• Multicenter Study
• Cross-Sectional Studies
• Pakistan / epidemiology
• Patient Admission
• Risk Factors
• Socioeconomic Factors
• Substance Abuse Treatment Centers
• Substance-Related Disorders / epidemiology*
• Substance-Related Disorders / rehabilitation
• Surveys and Questionnaires
• Young Adult

Drug Abuse in Pakistan

Genetic Factors and DRD2 Enhancer Variant rs12364283

• Reference work entry
• First Online: 18 October 2022
• pp 2667–2688
• Cite this reference work entry

• Shagufta Jabeen 3 ,
• Uzma Abdullah 4 ,
• Muhammad Sheeraz Ahmad 4 ,
• Muhammad Mobeen Zafar 4 ,
• Julia K. Pinsonneault 5 ,
• Wolfgang Sadee 6 &
• Ghazala Kaukab Raja 4  

64 Accesses

Drug addiction is a major health issue still growing across the world including Pakistan. Associated physico-mental health issues, large direct health costs, negative social impact, and increasing death rates render drug addiction a global epidemic. Among addictive drugs, the illicit opioid heroin has spread at a high rate in different parts of the world, especially in Pakistan. Heroin addiction is considered a complex disorder involving interplay of genetic and environmental factors. A number of genetic markers have been identified and candidate genes declared for opioid addiction. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have revealed only a few single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in candidate genes associated with increased risk of drug addiction, while epidemiological and genetic studies estimate genetic factors to account for a substantial risk for opioid use disorder (OUD) (Deak and Johnson, Psychol Med 51:2189–2200, 2021). Targeted genetic association studies with candidate genes further highlight potential genetic factors in OUD but often fail to be replicated in diverse populations. A key gene in the dopamine pathway, the dopamine D2 receptor ( DRD2 ), harbors regulatory variants, i.e., two intronic SNPs (rs1076560 and rs2283265; involved in mRNA splicing) and the enhancer SNP rs12364283 have been identified as potential risk markers of psychiatric/addictive disorders. This book chapter focuses on OUD, specifically heroin addiction, reviewing distribution among ethnic groups in Pakistan and assessing genetic variation in candidate genes such as DRD2 in world and Pakistani populations.

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Abbreviations

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

Catechol- O -methyltransferase

Dopamine transporter

Dopamine receptor D2

Gamma-aminobutyric acid receptor subunit gamma-2

Genome-wide association studies

Human immunodeficiency virus

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal

Serotonin receptor 1B

Internal ribosome entry site

κ-opioid receptor

Linkage disequilibrium

Minor allele frequency

Monoamine oxidase A

mu opioid receptor

Nerve growth factor-β subunit

National Institute on Drug Abuse

Opioid receptor kappa 1

Opioid receptor mu 1

Opioid use disorder

Prodynorphin

Proenkephalin

Period circadian protein

Proopiomelanocortin

Single nucleotide polymorphisms

Substance use disorder

Tryptophan hydroxylase 2

United Nations Development Programme

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Variable number tandem repeat

Ventral tegmental area

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Islamabad Model College for Boys, Islamabad, Pakistan

Shagufta Jabeen

University Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Uzma Abdullah, Muhammad Sheeraz Ahmad, Muhammad Mobeen Zafar & Ghazala Kaukab Raja

The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbus, OH, USA

Julia K. Pinsonneault

The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

Wolfgang Sadee

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Correspondence to Ghazala Kaukab Raja .

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School of Life Sciences, University of Westminster, London, UK

Vinood B. Patel

School of Life Course and Population Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, King’s College London, London, UK

Victor R. Preedy

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Jabeen, S. et al. (2022). Drug Abuse in Pakistan. In: Patel, V.B., Preedy, V.R. (eds) Handbook of Substance Misuse and Addictions. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92392-1_145

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92392-1_145

Published : 18 October 2022

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A research proposal on drug as social problem

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