| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2011 | Volume
: 20
| Issue : 2 | Page : 103-106 |
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Inhalant abuse: An exploratory study
Rohit Verma1, Yatan Pal Singh Balhara2, Anju Dhawan1
1 Department of Psychiatry, PGIMER and Dr. RML Hospital, New Delhi, India
2 National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, India
Correspondence Address:
Yatan Pal Singh Balhara
Department of Psychiatry, National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi 110029
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0972-6748.102493
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Background: Inhalants are being abused by large numbers of people throughout the world, particularly children and adolescents. It is also an often overlooked form of ubstance abuse in adolescents. Aims: The current study explored the inhalant abuse among adolescents seeking treatment from a tertiary care drug de-addiction clinic. Settings and Design: The study was conducted at a tertiary level multispecialty hospital. Materials and Methods: The current study was a chart review of the cases with inhalant abuse/dependence presenting to the clinic over a 1-year period. All the treatment records of the de-addiction clinic were reviewed, and information was gathered regarding patients with inhalant abuse/dependence. Statistical Analysis: Descriptive statistics with frequency distribution was carried out by using SPSS version 10.0. Results: The mean age of the subjects was 16.24 years (SD±1.9 years; range 12-18 years). Twenty-two percent of the subjects were illiterate. Forty percent of the adolescents had a family history of alcohol use problems and 48% that of tobacco use. The mean age of the initiation of inhalant use was 11.6 years (SD±2.17 years). It varied from 9 to 18 years. Forty percent of the adolescents had made a previous abstinence attempt. Conclusions: The findings provide important information on an underresearched area in psychiatry. |
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