Assessment of the Frequency of Substances Abuse in Hospitalized Burn Patients at Motahari Hospital, Using Drug Abuse Screening Test, in 2010

Introduction & It seems that the frequency of substance abuse among hospitalized burn injury patients has been increased. However, few studies have investigated substance abuse among burned patients. The aim of this study is defining the incidence of substance abuse in burn injury patients, using the "Drug Abuse Screening Test" (DAST 20). Initially, we determined the validity of DAST 20 in spring 2010. Subsequently, this descriptive cross sectional study was performed on 203 burn injury patients who fitted the study’s inclusion criteria. During the study, we gathered demographic data, burn features and DAST20 results for all patients. Patients with scores of 6 or more were considered to be substances abusers. A statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS v16 software (SPSS, Chicago, Inc). According to the DAST20 results, 33% of the patients were in the user group. The mean score of DAST20 was significantly higher among users than it was among nonusers, and this difference was meaninful (P=0.000). The level of substance abuse was severe in 77% of users. No significant differences were found among the substances, with the exception of alcohol, which was meaningfully higher. This study showed that the prevalence of substances abuse in burn patients is high and DAST20 is a valid screening measure for studies on these patients.