Tramadol Abuse Status and Related Factors among Three College Students in Hamadan

Introduction &

Abuse of prescription drugs is on the rise in Iran and tramadol is not an exception. Tramadol abuse can lead to a wide range of illegal and risky behaviors; therefore, the need to understand the tramadol abuse status among students is necessary. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and related factors of tramadol abuse among college students in Hamadan.

This cross sectional descriptive study was carried out on 400 college students of Hamadan recruited with a stratified sampling method. The participants completed a self-administered questionnaire. Data analysis was done with the SPSS software (version 16), using χ2 test and logistic regression methods.

The result showed that lifetime, past-year and past-month prevalence of tramadol use were 12.5, 11 and 9.5%, respectively. Also, significant relationship between tramadol abuse and demographic variables such as gender, educational status and dwelling of students were showed (P<0.05). Cigarette smoking and illicit drug abuse were other factors associated with tramadol abuse among students (P<0.05). In logistic regression, factors influencing tramadol use were smoking and use of other drugs (P< 0.05).

The study concluded that there is a worrying increase in tramadol abuse among students. The results of this study as an introduction to designing effective strategies to prevention of drug abuse, particularly in the colleges play a very effective role.