Epidemiology of Substance Use among Dentistry Students (Shiraz-Iran)

Objective: Substance use among university students is a mental health concern. The aim of the current study was to assess prevalence and motivations for substance use in a sample of dentistry students at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in Iran.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on all (236) dentistry students. Data was collected using a confidential multiple-choice questionnaire detecting the current and past history, and motivations for use of various substances. In order to detect the frequency of substance use, Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests were used.

Results: A significant proportion of participants (41.5 %) including 18.6% of females and 54.7% of males reported use of a substance at least once in their life. Moreover, 9.3% of subjects reported regular use of at least one substance over the precedent month. In our sample, tobacco was the most common substance used by students, followed by opium, and cannabis. Pleasure seeking was reported as the most common motivational factor for substance use by dentistry students.

Conclusion: Substance use was significantly common in dentistry students, which suggests that it should be considered in mental health programs for university students, in particular those studying in health related fields such as dentistry.