The Prevalence of Drug Abuse and Substance Dependency Among Cancer Patients in Mazandaran

Background and Çancer patients are usually suffering from severe pain and disrupted life style and using a proper analgesic seems to be the best option. Pain management failure or improper dosages of analgesics may lead to drug abuse or substance dependency in cancer patients. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of drug abuse and substance dependency among cancer patients. Ïn this study, all cancer patients referred to Mazandaran Üniversity of Medical Sciences for opioid analgesics prescription were interviewed to evaluate the substance abuse and dependency. Â demographic questionnaire and a structured reliable and valid clinical interview for Âxis Ï disorder in DSM ÏV and SÇÏD Ï were used for data collection. Âmong 238 studied cancer patients, 27 patients (11.3%) had drug abuse and 24 patients (9.9%) had substance dependency. There was a significant correlation between age and duration of cancer with the prevalence of drug abuse and substance dependency (P<0.05 in both cases). The predominant opioid analgesic and substance prescribed and abused were methadone and opium.Çonclusion: The results of this study indicated that the drug abuse and dependency in studied cancer patients is considerably high. Ïn addition to chemical dependency, it seems that the prescribed analgesic dosages were not adequate to relive the pain which in turn leads to use another substance with stronger analgesic effects.